The new university funding regime has polarised respondents to F&C Investments’ latest Question of the Month mini-survey.

The survey, which canvassed the opinions of visitors to F&C’s investment trust website, www.fandc.co.uk, during July, asked what action parents, students and families should take in advance of the near-trebling of tuition fees at most English universities from 2012.

While a third of respondents answered that parents and families should start saving as early as possible in order to minimise the debt burden after graduation, almost as many said that families should discourage their children from going to university at all, unless they had chosen a course with clear job prospects at graduation. This gives some weight to the argument that the new fee regime will adversely impact arts and classical subjects.

Only 14% of respondents said they felt the new fee loan scheme was fair and affordable and that families should consequently take no action. However, a fifth of those who took part said families should broaden their horizons as a result of the new system, looking at universities in other locations where the fees might be lower or the quality of education or experience higher.

It will remain to be seen whether the new university funding regime does in fact choke off demand for higher education in England, leading to falling student numbers or perhaps a greater number of non-EU students for whom tuition fees are even higher. However, while parents who benefited from a state-subsidised university education may feel their children deserve an equivalent educational experience, the hard fact is that they are not going to be able to achieve it under the new system without either a significant investment upfront by the family or a major overhang of debt for the student.

Jason Hollands, Head of Corporate Affairs at F&C Investments, said: “The saying about private education used to be that if you already had children, you had left it too late to save up. Under the new regime, university tuition fees will be pitched at a level not unlike the fees at some independent schools. Parents of 17-year-olds today may not be able to do much at this late stage to make a difference – remortgaging was an option in our survey that got no votes at all – but those with younger children have the opportunity to reduce the burden if they can manage to put away even quite a little money on a regular basis.

“Most of today’s under-nines will have got a kick-start from the Government in the form of a Child Trust Fund voucher, while the forthcoming Junior ISA regime will give parents of older and younger children the opportunity to save in a tax-favoured environment. And while saving £3,600 a year might seem unachievable to most people, those who can afford to save more could choose a product like F&C’s Children’s Investment Plan, which has no maximum investment but still accepts regular contributions of as little as £25 a month.”

The Children’s Investment Plan offers access to F&C’s award-winning range of investment trusts, which includes global options such as Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust and F&C Global Smaller Companies, income specialists like Investors Capital Trust and British Assets Trust, and alternative investments such as commercial property, private equity and even hedge funds. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise, and you may not get back the full amount invested. Always seek financial advice if you are in any doubt as to the right options for you.

F&C also offers a Child Trust Fund and plans to launch a Junior ISA early in 2012.

The full results of August’s survey are attached. September’s question is now on site, asking investors what, three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, they think the next three years have in store.