American parents impatient for the good things in life are no longer saving for their children’s future, instead splurging on themselves in greater numbers than ever before, according to a new study by Intelligent.
Last month, Intelligent surveyed 1,001 parents with at least one child under age 18.
While nearly all of respondents (98%) said they hoped their children would go to college, for a variety of reasons, many weren’t willing or able to help them afford a higher education. More than one-third of parents (36%) said they had withdrawn or used college savings funds for non-educational purposes. Over half of respondents (59%) said the funds were used for essential purchases; medical expenses (57%) and mortgage or rent payments (45%).
Not all redirected college savings funds were used for an altruistic purpose, however; a fifth of respondents (21%) said they used the money to cover non-essential purchases, and 11% said they used their child’s college savings funds to gamble. Almost half of respondents (45%) said they haven’t yet started a college savings fund for their child, and 13% said they didn’t plan to.
The study also found that when it comes to money and politics, Republican parents (48%) were twice as likely as Democratic parents (33%) not to be saving for their child’s college education. However, 70% of Republican parents said they planned to do so, compared with 79% of Democratic parents. While many parents said they hoped their child would go to college, 15% of Republicans and 7% of Democrats said they are not currently saving for it and do not intend to either.
Republican parents said they had saved a median amount of $10,000—the same as the median amount of all respondents—while Democratic parents said they had saved a median amount of $12,000 for college.
Republican parents said they were not saving for a college education because they wanted their child to pay for it themselves (45%); their child was unlikely to go to college (18%); someone else was saving or going to pay for it (11%); or because they believed that if their child paid for college with student loans, the loans would be forgiven (9%).
Three times as many Democratic parents (30%) also believed government student loans would be forgiven, but more than twice as many as Republican parents said someone else was saving or paying for their child’s college education. Similarly to Republican parents, 19% of Democratic parents said it was unlikely that their child would be attending college, but four times fewer Democratic parents (11%) as Republicans said they wanted their child to pay for their own education.
Whether respondents were Republicans or Democrats, respondents from both sides of the political aisle said they were struggling financially, and that saving for college was just not an option for them.
“Economy is bad at the moment, and I don’t see it changing,” one respondent answered in writing to a study question.
“Barely making it week to week,” another wrote. “Inflation is crippling our economy.”
“I don’t have enough money to save and pay for living expenses,” another respondent said.
Some parents (4%) said they had stopped contributing to their children’s college savings, with half saying they were no longer in a financial position to do so.
Founded in 2009, Intelligent is a business and consulting firm headquartered in Seattle.