Confused.com Finds Mums Want to Help Pay for University Costs

CARDIFF, Wales, May 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Confused.com has surveyed mums and found that 60% would like to help their children meet the spiralling costs of higher education. With the current annual cost of living and study for a higher education student estimated at around 15,500 pounds to 16,600 pounds* per year, and fees predicted to continue rising, parents may want to consider protecting their children by increasing the term of their life insurance policy.

The research from the car and life insurance comparison website also found that 55% of mums would like to help their children with a deposit for a house (the average house price for first time buyers is around 160,000 pounds**) and 50% of mums would like to help their children buy and insure their first car (annual premium on car insurance for young drivers aged 17-20 has increased by 33.5%***, and young drivers of these ages can expect to pay an average premium of 2,648 pounds annually****).

Additionally 50% would like to help them with wedding costs (average cost of a UK wedding is between 15,000 pounds and 25,000 pounds)***** and 29% of mums would like to provide their offspring with financial support for travelling.

Others would like to help with paying for private medical care and financial support to set up a business. However, Confused.com recently revealed that 48% of mums don't have any life insurance cover in place.

Matthew Lloyd, head of life insurance at Confused.com, said: "For many years the perceived wisdom has been to make sure life insurance cover continues until children reach the age of 18 or 21. It seems that attitudes are changing though; influenced by spiralling university costs and the desire to help children reach goals that often happen after this age. It's important that parents wanting to help their children achieve these goals consider providing protection through life insurance for their children until an older age.

"It's not at all surprising that mums want to help their children reach landmark goals, but it is a real worry that they don't have any life insurance cover in place to safeguard them should the worst happen. Life insurance and critical illness policies can also offer many additional valuable features for families that can be accessed at any time during the life of the policy, for example providing access to specialist medical information and advice or counselling services – they can be invaluable."

Notes to Editors:

* Source NUS Average costs of living and study

** House prices increase by 0.3% Feb 2011 – Average house cost for first time buyers  = 161,211 pounds (Nationwide house price index Feb 2011)

*** Prices have increased 33.5% from Q1 2010 to Q1 2011

**** Based on Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index April 2011

***** Source: - 'You and your wedding'.

About Confused.com:

Confused.com is one of the UK's biggest and most popular price comparison services. Launched in 2002, it generates over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the last couple of years to include home insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance, van insurance, motorbike insurance, breakdown cover and energy, as well as financial services products including credit cards, loans, mortgages and life insurance. More specialist life insurance products include critical illness cover, mortgage life insurance, joint life insurance and over 50s life insurance policies.

Confused.com is not a supplier, insurance company or broker. It provides a free, objective and unbiased comparison service. By using cutting-edge technology, it has developed a series of intelligent web-based solutions that evaluate a number of risk factors to help customers with their decision-making, subsequently finding them great deals on a wide-range of insurance products, financial services, utilities and more. Confused.com's service is based on the most up-to-date information provided by UK suppliers and industry regulators.

Media information:
Helen Beckett
Confused.com press office
Friary House
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff
CF10 3AE
07551 005877
www.confused.com

SOURCE Confused.com