Too often, between work, social events, cooking nutritious meals, taxi’ing the kids from tuition to sporting activities, we forget about the big picture. The countless efforts parents put in for their kids to get solid grades at school, is ultimately for a prosperous future. What we might sometimes miss, as a critical step, is planning for life after school.
Isn’t it almost incongruous that, at 14 or 15, teenagers might make life-changing decisions based on their choice of subjects? The path they choose then may well impact their earning potential, happiness and lifestyle for decades to come. Yet, there’s astoundingly limited university or career counselling available to our bright young leaders of tomorrow. This is critical support teenagers need, especially where they might be the first one in the family to complete the School Certificate, let alone going to university. The options then are career fairs where companies spruik working in the offshore sector and doing the ACCA, or university representatives discussing courses from education providers they are affiliated with where they may earn a whopping commission up to 15% of your first-year course fees!
Arguably, as early as Grade 9 (Form 3) might be the right time to start discussing life after high school.
Some probing questions to discuss as a family might be:
- What does success mean to me?
- What are my strengths and interests? How do these fit into my idea of a career?
- What kind of life do I want to live and what is my preferred lifestyle choice?
- What can we afford? If I invest Rs2m in my studies, based on my career prospects post university, how long will it take for me to repay the loan?
- What is the return of this Rs2m investment when I start working?
Profession or Trade
Perhaps due to our ancestral legacy of slavery and indentured labourers, being a cobbled nation of travayer, trading our labour and our time for income, we sometimes discourage our kids in pursuing entrepreneurship, where the earning potential could be limitless, in favour of the stability of “enn bon travay” with a fixed salary.
Success looks different for each person. It is worth thinking of whether uni is a viable option at all because not everyone is academically inclined.
One of my cousins didn’t enjoy school. What he was really good at instead, was using bits and bobs he’d collect to build his own bicycles. He ended up leaving school early to train as a mechanic. It makes sense, doesn’t it? A mechanic will always have a pipeline work as long as there are cars on the road. As will an electrician, a plumber, a hairdresser or a builder.
Let’s take the example of Caroline and Laura.
Caroline’s wants to be an engineer and do a three-year undergraduate degree in the UK, which costs Rs 1.5m per year. If her parents put up their house as a collateral and she borrows Rs 4.5m over a loan period of 20 years, at an assumed 7% rate of interest, Caroline’s monthly repayments will be Rs 35,000. By the end of the loan, she will have repaid a total of Rs8.4m to the bank.
If Caroline earns an average graduate monthly salary of Rs 20,000 upon her return au bercail, and manages to secure a 5% raise every year for 20 years, her total earnings before tax, will roughly equal to Rs 8.4m. Therefore, in this scenario, with a payback period of over 20 years for her education loan, the UK may not be a viable option in the absence of any other financial assistance.
Caroline could instead do her undergrad at the University of Mauritius and then after a few years of work, opt a one-year Masters abroad. Countries like Germany, China, South Africa for example, have lower international student fees for courses offered in English.
Laura, on the other hand, loves baking and decides to go to MITD’s Ecole Hôtelière Sir Gaëtan Duval, at the age of 17, after the School Certificate. The pastry course is Rs 20,000 for 90 hours of training. After graduating, Laura works as an assistant at a hotel, earning Rs12,500 per month. A year later, she gets a job on a cruise ship, travelling the world for 3 years whilst making up to Rs80,000 per month. She comes home, at 21years old, with four years of experience and a sizeable deposit enough to buy a small apartment for herself and her family at the same time as Caroline would be graduating from her engineering degree. With all her work experience, Laura might now open her own shop and even train others to expand her business and keep growing her earnings.
Who is better off?
There’s no right or wrong answer. It’s for each individual to pick their own path. It is however important that we give direction, in their formative years, to Gen Z and Alpha who might live to be a hundred. We owe it to our kids to discuss their future as an employee, a tradesperson, an entrepreneur or a combination of all. We need to prepare our children to be resilient in the ever-changing work environment, discuss the fact that they may have up to seven careers in their lifetime and that it is okay to reassess and pivot over time.
This is where diversity of thought matters. Being involved in the community via Rotaract or JCI or youth programmes can help expand your family’s network. Encourage your child to get comfortable in asking different people about their career and life journey so they can access opportunities you may not have had.
Disclaimer – Information in this column is general in nature and does not take into consideration your personal financial situation. It is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Before making financial decisions, consider seeking independent financial advice tailored to your individual needs.
