529 College Savings Calculator

Enter an education-cost inflation rate in the inflation field. The real result divides the projected nominal balance by that inflation factor for the selected horizon.

The tool does not predict tuition for a particular school, state, program, or academic year. Education inflation can vary materially across those choices.

The projection uses a fixed contribution schedule and an editable investment return. It does not model state tax benefits, investment options, fees, financial-aid treatment, scholarships, or changing beneficiaries.

Use the yearly schedule to see when contributions and compounding accumulate. Verify plan rules and state tax treatment with authoritative plan documents.

Imagine a $5,000 opening balance, $250 deposited monthly, 14 years to the first tuition bill, and a 5.5% annual growth assumption. With monthly compounding and end-of-month deposits, the projection is about $73,833 nominal. Using 5% education-cost inflation, the same balance represents about $37,291 of today's purchasing power.

The two results answer different questions. The nominal figure estimates the account balance in future dollars; the real figure estimates how much tuition-buying power those dollars have if costs rise at the entered rate. A family can change the inflation field without touching the growth rate to separate investment sensitivity from cost sensitivity.

That separation matters. At 4% growth the balance is about $64,923; at 7% it is about $84,294, while the education-inflation factor stays unchanged. Conversely, if tuition inflation is 3% instead of 5%, the real result is higher even though every nominal input is the same. Treating those two rates as one blended number makes the scenario harder to audit.

Common mistakes include assuming every state offers the same tax treatment, treating an age-based portfolio's current equity allocation as fixed for all 14 years, and projecting one child's total cost without considering scholarships or school-choice differences. This tool models the account math, not plan rules or a particular college's invoice.

A practical exercise is to calculate both a two-year and fourteen-year version of the same family plan. The short run shows that $250 per month adds about $6,000 plus $5,000 already saved, while the long run adds roughly $41,300 of projected growth at 5.5%. That contrast explains why contribution changes matter so much in early years and why later balances are more sensitive to growth. It also gives a family a disciplined way to revisit assumptions annually instead of anchoring on one high-school-year balance that was calculated many years earlier.

Then test growth and cost inflation separately to make each conclusion auditable.