Project future tuition costs and find out how much you need to save every month to be ready when enrollment starts.
Calculated on your device. Nothing is uploaded or stored on a server.
Enter today's annual tuition cost, how many years until your student enrolls, how many years they'll be enrolled, an expected annual tuition inflation rate, what you've already saved, and the return you expect on that savings. The planner projects the full future cost and works out a monthly savings target.
The planner inflates today's tuition forward for each year of enrollment (since later years cost more than the first), then sums them for a total future cost. Your current savings are grown at your expected return until enrollment begins. The difference — the future cost not already covered — is the target for new monthly contributions, solved using the standard future-value-of-an-annuity formula.
Tuition has historically risen faster than general inflation, so a modest annual increase adds up significantly over a decade.
More years until enrollment means both more time for your savings to compound and more months to spread the required contribution across.
Common questions, answered.
Today's annual tuition is compounded forward by your inflation rate for each year of enrollment (since the first year of college starts further in the future than year zero), and the inflated costs for every enrollment year are added together.
A commonly cited range is 4–6% per year for U.S. college tuition, though it varies by school and over time. Check your target school's historical increases if you want a more precise estimate.
Yes. Your current savings are projected forward at your expected return until enrollment begins, and only the remaining gap is used to calculate your required monthly contribution.
If your current savings, once grown at your expected return, already meet or exceed the projected future cost, the planner shows $0 in additional monthly savings needed.