University costs have replaced weddings as the big expense parents are most likely to face for their adult children, a report has found. Two in five (40 per cent) of parents said they had helped their grown-up child with university costs, while just one in five have contributed towards a wedding, according to the research by financial services provider standard Life.
But for the grandparents' generation the situation was reversed, with two in five of grandparents saying they had helped with their child's wedding costs and one in four said they had paid towards their child's education.
The report said that social changes relating to marriage, higher numbers of people going to university and the increased costs of paying for university are all likely to have contributed to the shift.