Parents in Sussex are sticking their heads in the sand when it comes to providing for their children's future education, a survey suggests.

And the Government's decision to introduce university top-up fees has failed to prompt 57 per cent of parents in the South-East to save towards their children's university costs.

According to a study by Royal Liver Assurance, more than a third of parents polled had no idea how they would pay for their child's higher education.

Barclays Bank has calculated average student debt is now more than £12,000, a five-fold increase since 1994 and reckons that figure could top £33,000 by 2010.

The Children's Mutual estimates the cost of a degree will have risen from about £23,200 now to £44,055 by 2022, based on tuition fees rising to £3,000 a year and inflation of 2.5 per cent a year.

It claims if parents want to foot the bill for sending their child to university in full, they will have to start saving about £110 a month as soon as their child is born.

Under the new top-up fee system, universities will be able to charge full-time undergraduates up to £3,000 a year, with repayments starting when graduates earn £15,000 a year or more.

But Royal's research revealed a large number of parents - 43 per cent - are simply relying on the government's policy on education to have changed by the time their children reach university.

A further 21 per cent will expect their child to contribute by getting weekend and holiday jobs, while two per cent are planning to get financial help from grandparents and other relatives.

Steve Burnett, chief executive of Royal Liver Assurance, said the Government should act to encourage parents to save for their children's future.

He said: "They should explore the option of introducing attractive, tax-efficient schemes to encourage parents to save for their children's education over the long term.

"Although there are some schemes available that take advantage of special tax treatments, Gordon Brown should consider going further and switch the Government's focus from low-cost debt to savings plans specially for university saving.

"The Government and the financial services industry has to get people's confidence back and start to switch people's mindset from debt to saving.

"It's the only way to relieve the financial time bomb in this country, which has among the highest levels of debt in Europe."

In his last annual Budget, Chancellor Gordon Brown outlined further details of the proposed Child Trust Fund, which is designed to encourage saving for children.

This incentive will provide a government-funded endowment of at least £250 per child at birth, and up to £500 for those children from lower income families.

The idea is that additional contributions from friends and family will bump up the fund to give young people a real head start in life.

Wednesday May 12, 2004