New Delhi, July 20 -- Every year, thousands of parents sign cheques ranging from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.4 lakh without their child ever stepping into a university. Long before college offer letters arrive, families shell out lakhs in non-negotiable coaching fees, hoping the investment will improve their child's chances of success.

Without proper planning, many parents end up dipping into life savings or retirement corpus to fund coaching, while others are willing to borrow or even mortgage assets to pay for preparation programmes.

To understand the scale of the financial pressure, one must look at how education's share of household budgets has changed.

According to data from the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI), tot...