PERHAPS the easiest part of independent schooling is the decision that

is what you want for your child. The trickiest part is usually paying

for it, which is likely to be second only to buying your house, in terms

of financial commitment.

Alan Sibley is a local director in Edinburgh, of Bain Clarkson, a

UK-wide group of independent financial advisers who have also, a Glasgow

office. His advice to anyone looking towards independent education is to

start financial planning as early as possible, when the child is very

young. This allows the longest possible time to save to build up

capital, thus reducing the burden on parents.

''The finding of fees,'' he explained,'' is either from income, or

from capital, or more generally a culmination of both. Most people

thinking of sending their children to private schools generally do have

some capital either in their own accounts, or grandparents may put in a

bit, or they may have assets such as saving policies or unit trusts

which could be used to supplement the fees if they can't be fully met

from income.''

So, if a couple with a young baby have a lump sum available, could

they do something constructive at this point?

''In general parents are not advised to put it into a plan

specifically for school fees,'' opined Mr Sibley. ''Usually what one

should do is initially look at the level of fees which they're expecting

to have to pay, based on current values increasing for inflation, so

that one sees how much money is going to be needed to cover the whole

fees over the schooling period.

''Normally that's from age 12 upwards, primary fees can usually be met

from income, so one is talking about fees from 12 -- 17.''

If the child is young, and if the parents have capital, then it should

be invested.

''If there's sufficient time, then it can go into an investment which

is slightly more risky than a building society deposit, such as a PEP or

unit trust or something similar, to grow the capital,'' explained Mr

Sibley.

''If it's a shorter period of time, then obviously it should go into

the building society, National Savings, or something like that.''

He isn't too happy about money being tied up in an educational trust,

although some parents or grandparents do this. This method works by

making a payment to an organisation which accepts money that is paid

specifically into an educational trust, and is then used solely for

school fees.

''The problem,'' he points out, ''is that parents' circumstances can

change. They may decide not to send the child to a fee-paying school, or

they may move and find an appropriate local school, so flexibility is

important.''

The two basic options here are: certain schools which will accept

payments, in advance, at a discount; and a number of different

educational trust plans run by investment specialists, who will accept

the payment into an education trust -- which is really a purchase of a

deferred annuity, which guarantees the payment over the schooling

period.

''That ties people in to some extent,'' comments Alan Sibley, ''I'd

prefer to retain flexibility by going the PEPs, unit trusts, or whatever

route.

''The other aspect is that it's quite rare for there to be sufficient

capital available when a child is two or three to put aside to meet the

whole of the fees. Therefore, one has to make some form of savings or

commitment from existing income, as the idea then, having formulated the

likely level of fee, is to work out how much you should be setting aside

from now, over the period until the child goes to the school, and that

saving should be invested -- again, in something that's not strictly

tied to school fees. It should also be remembered that the savings

should be increased annually to keep abreast of fee rises over the next

10 years.

''I'm not greatly in favour of endowment insurance policies,'' he

continues, ''because generally they have to run for at least 10 years,

and it's expensive if you surrender those, so again it should go into

the kind of savings route already mentioned, such as PEPs or unit

trusts.''

The most difficult scenario occurs when a child is just about to

embark on independent schooling with no earlier financial planning. If

the fees can't be afforded from income, and there's no capital

available, just one route is left, says Mr Sibley. ''A loan, and that

can be very, very expensive.''

He warns: ''Be careful where you get the loan from. You may be able to

use the equity of your house, or grandparents might lend money now to be

repaid at a later stage. There may be money to be inherited from a

grandparent in the longer term, and he or she may take the view that

they'd rather see the money used while they're alive.''

At the end of the day, with all the sums done, if you realise that you

really can't afford the school fees: ''That's where the assisted places

scheme may come in,'' advises Alan Sibley, ''and we've only been

discussing one child, there may be more coming along. It all needs very

careful planning.''