Elizabeth Denney-Wilson and her husband were shocked when they sat down and worked out the cost of supporting their daughter Louisa through her bachelor's degree.
The price tag came to about $20,000 a year for meals at home, basic clothes, mobile phone bills, health insurance, gym membership, car insurance and maintenance (but not registration or petrol), textbooks and student study fees not covered by HECS.
"It was a bit of a shock. We were pretty surprised," Mrs Denney-Wilson said. "We hadn't even factored in electricity or gas or internet or lodging." 
At $20,000 a year, the Wilsons' contribution is generous, according to a global survey that found Australian parents are among the most miserly in helping their children pay for tertiary education.
Less than 60 per cent contribute towards their child's tertiary education costs - the lowest proportion of the 15 countries surveyed in the Value of Education: Foundations for the Future research. .
Among those who put a dollar figure on their support, the average was less than $7000 a year, placing Australia 10th out of 15.
"In Australia we have HECS for higher education, meaning both the cost of the education and the way in which the loan is paid back is very favourable to the student," said Tim Pitman, a senior research fellow from Curtin University.
"So parents' attitudes to saving for university are fundamentally different than, say, the US, where it costs a lot more on average and student loans are generally at commercial rates."
Varying levels of government subsidy and student assistance such as scholarships, loans and social support payments made international comparisons very difficult, Dr Pitman said.
For example, the vast majority of undergraduate domestic students in Australia and the UK draw on public loans to cover most or all of their tuition costs.
This is a far cry from the US, where fewer than two-thirds of students have a public loan and the average loan covers less than half the cost of tuition, according to the latest figures from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development.
Australian parents spent an average of $US5150 ($6900) a year on their child's tertiary education, compared with $US6570 ($8800) in the UK and $US14,700 ($19,700) in the US, the Value of Education survey found.
Only 58 per cent of Australian parents contributed any money at all, compared with 97 per cent in Egypt, 90 per cent in China, 79 per cent in the US and 67 per cent in the UK.
Australian parents may look like penny-pinchers, but the figures reflect Australia's position as a "tertiary education exporter", Dr Pitman said. This means most Australians attend local universities and international students make up a large share of our student population.
"In contrast, for example, Singapore is a tertiary education importer, sending more students overseas than are taught in Singapore. So parents factor in higher costs to allow for this," he said.
Technology bills, food and textbooks were the most common expenses Australian parents help to cover, with roughly half saying they paid towards these, according to the survey. Just over 40 per cent said they contributed towards study fees.
The survey of parents painted them in a far more generous light than a 2012 Universities Australia survey of students. According to the latter, only 36 per cent of domestic undergraduate students received financial support from their parents, including 9 per cent whose parents contributed to their tuition fees.
In 2012, eight in 10 domestic full-time undergraduate students worked during semester, compared with seven in 10 in 2000 and five in 10 in 1984, according to Universities Australia research.
Mrs Denney-Wilson, an academic at UTS, said students who didn't have parental support were at a distinct disadvantage.