Savings
College Savings Goal
Project what school will cost when it starts, what your savings will be worth on the same day, and the monthly amount that closes the gap.
What this means
At $100 a month you’d have about $20,027 when school starts, against a target of $84,249 — 24% of it. Closing the whole gap would take about $492 a month from now on.
If that number is out of reach, the cheaper levers are on the left: the share you plan to cover, and what one year costs. A community college start or an in-state school changes the target more than any rate of return does. And the first move, before any of this, is still your own emergency fund and retirement — a student can borrow for school; nobody can borrow for retirement.
A 529 plan is the account most families use for this — growth is federally tax-free when spent on qualified education costs, and many states add a benefit of their own. The Education & Training brick explains what counts, and this is an estimate, not investment advice.
Build on it
These are estimates to help you think — not personalized legal, tax, or investment advice, and not a promise of any result.
This calculator projects two numbers to the same day — the day school starts — and compares them: what the years of school will cost by then, and what your savings will be worth. Then it shows the gap, the share you've covered, and the monthly amount that would close it.
Why it matters: the sticker price people quote is today's price, and school is years away. A cost that rises a few percent a year is a very different number a decade out. Seeing the real target early is what makes a small monthly amount enough — and seeing it late is what turns the gap into loans.
How to use it
Enter the school, in today's dollars
Years until the start, years of school, and what one year costs now — in-state public and community college run far below the prices in the headlines. Add a rate the cost rises at; the default is a guess and yours may differ.
Enter what you're doing already
Saved so far, what you put in monthly, and an assumed return. Keep the return honest — it's an assumption, and many families lower it as the start date gets close.
Decide how much of the bill is yours
Plenty of families plan to cover a portion and expect aid, scholarships, work or the student to carry the rest. Set that share and the target moves with it — often the biggest lever on the page.
Behind the numbers
Two clocks, one day
The cost grows on one clock (education inflation) and the savings on another (investment return). The calculator runs both to the day school starts and compares them there. If cost rises faster than savings grow, waiting makes the gap bigger, not smaller.
Each year of school has its own price
Senior year costs more than freshman year, because it's paid later. The projection inflates each year of school separately to the year it lands, rather than pricing four years at the freshman rate.
Where a 529 fits
A 529 plan is the account most families use for this: growth is federally tax-free when spent on qualified education costs, and many states add a benefit for contributions. What counts as qualified, and what your state offers, is worth a few minutes on your state's plan site — the Education & Training brick covers the basics.
Retirement comes first
A student can borrow for school; nobody can borrow for retirement. The order that holds up: your own emergency fund, then the retirement match, then this. A parent who is secure at 65 is a better gift than a paid-off freshman year.
The math behind it
The cost side: take one year's cost today and grow it by the education inflation rate for each year until school starts, then keep growing it one more year for each year of school, and add those years up. Multiply by the share you plan to cover — that's the target. The savings side: today's balance grows at the assumed return, and each monthly contribution grows from the month it goes in until the start. Compare the two on the start date. The monthly-to-fund figure works the same growth formula backwards from the target.
Worked example
School in 10 years, four years of it, $12,000 a year today rising 5% a year, $2,000 saved, $100 a month, 6% assumed return, covering all of it. The four years will cost about $84,000 by the time they're paid. The savings reach about $20,000 — roughly a quarter of it. Closing the whole gap from here would take about $490 a month; covering half of the cost instead brings that to about $235.
Start with the share, not the return
If the monthly number is out of reach, don't reach for a higher return — change what you're aiming at. Covering a portion, or planning around an in-state or community-college start, moves the target more than any realistic change in return can, and neither depends on a market cooperating.
Common questions
How much should I save for college?
Enough to cover the share you've decided is yours, at the school you're actually likely to choose — not the full sticker price of a private university unless that's the plan. Run the calculator with an in-state school and a realistic share, and the monthly number is usually far smaller than people fear.
What return should I assume?
A long horizon can carry an assumption in the range a diversified fund has historically returned; a short one should assume much less, because a bad year right before tuition is due can't be waited out. The field is editable for exactly that reason, and nothing here is a promise of any return.
Should I save for college before my own retirement?
Almost never. Aid formulas mostly ignore retirement savings and count college savings, loans exist for students and not for retirees, and a parent who has to be supported later costs a family more than a loan does. Fund the retirement match first; then this.
Go deeper
The calculator gives you a number. The Education & Training Brick teaches you what to do with it, in plain English. And if you’re not sure where to start, the free BrickScore Assessment checks your whole foundation in about 5 minutes.