College Savings Goal
Project future college cost and the monthly savings needed.
About College Savings Goal
Today's cost is inflated forward to the target year, present savings grow at the return rate, and the remaining shortfall is solved with an annuity payment. Education inflation outpaces general inflation, so compounding a realistic goal early shows the real monthly commitment.
Formula
College Savings Goal
Future cost = cost x (1 + inflation)^years; monthly via annuity formula
- shortfall
- Amount to fund after current savings grow
Worked example
With the default values below, College Savings Goal returns Future Cost of $80,635. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Cost todayminimum 0
- 60,000
- Years untilminimum 1 yr
- 10 yr
- Cost inflationaccepts 0–10 %
- 3 %
- Annual returnaccepts 0–20 %
- 6 %
- Saved so farminimum 0
- 5,000
Results
- Future Cost
- $80,635
- Monthly Savings
- $437
- Total Contributed
- $52,488
- Shortfall
- $71,681
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2College Savings Goal
- 3Future Cost= 80,635
- 4Monthly Savings= 437
- 5Total Contributed= 52,488
- 6Shortfall= 71,681
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take tax into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to whole numbers, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is College Savings Goal calculated?
Future cost = cost x (1 + inflation)^years; monthly via annuity formula Today's cost is inflated forward to the target year, present savings grow at the return rate, and the remaining shortfall is solved with an annuity payment.
Why does College Savings Goal matter?
Education inflation outpaces general inflation, so compounding a realistic goal early shows the real monthly commitment.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 5 inputs: Cost today, Years until, Cost inflation, Annual return, Saved so far. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.