What is a College Cost Calculator?

A College Cost Calculator is an essential planning tool for families and students to begin estimating the total cost of higher education in the future. With college tuition, expenses for housing, and living costs continuing to rise year after year, knowing how much you will need to save for the future is your first step toward a relaxed financial plan.

Whether you are a parent who is building a college fund for your child or a student planning on financing your own education, this calculator will give you realistic cost estimates using inflation, growth on savings, and/or returns on investments.

Compared to basic calculators that only account for today’s tuition, our College Savings Calculator can project upcoming cost increases, demonstrate how savings on today’s cost will grow, and determine what portion you will need that isn’t covered by your savings. This allows you to set realistic goals for funding education and helps you to avoid closing the financial gap at the last minute.

Key Features of Our College Cost Calculator

• ✔ Future Cost Projections - Predicts how much tuition and living expenses will increase annually due to inflation.
• ✔ Savings and Investment growth - Takes into consideration your current savings, expected level of investment returns, and compounding growth.
• ✔ Inputs are flexible - The calculator can be used for various programs, from a one year diploma to a six year residency in medical or law school.
• ✔ Tax considerations - The calculator calculates the potential tax on investment gains to provide a realistic net savings.
• ✔ Instant usable results - There is no laborious manual mathematics involved, and in seconds you will have accurate numbers.
• ✔ Works with all devices - Fully optimized for mobile, desktop, and tablets help make planning easy at any time and anywhere!

How Does the College Cost Calculator Work?

Using our calculator is simple:

1. Fill in the cost of an annual tuition today.
2. Fill in the expected growth rate of tuition (%). (Average U.S. college inflation of 5-6%).
3. Fill in the number of years of college (example: 4 years for a bachelor's, 6 years medicine/law).
4. Fill in your existing balance of savings and annual amount (if you intend to keep saving) .
5. Fill in expected return on savings/investments (%).
6. Fill in the Tax rate on investment income.
7. Fill in the number of years until college starts.

The calculator then will show:

• Your estimated total college cost at the time your child goes to college.
• How much the estimated cost is covered by your savings and investments.
• What shortfall amount you may still need to plan for.
• An easy to read graph that shows the increase in the costs compared to the growth of your savings.

Why Use a College Savings Calculator?

• Plan Ahead for Rising Costs – Tuition inflation does exist. The calculator demonstrates how costs may rise over the years so you are not in for a shock later on.
• Watch as Your Savings Grow Over Time – See how your contributions and investment income add up over time.
• Identify Gaps Early – Determine probable gaps years ahead of time so you have time to plan to save or invest extra money.
• Scenario Comparisons – Test different cases, such as saving more each year, choosing different investment returns, or delaying contributions.
• Stress-Free Planning – No Excel spreadsheets or calculations by hand. Just enter details and get instant, reliable results.