College Savings Calculator

How this calculator works

This calculator determines if you will reach your college savings goals in a projected amount of time based on how many children you are saving for and their respective tuition and room and board costs. Based on your inputs, a suggestion is generated to save more or less to meet your goal.

This calculator uses 0.67% as the education cost of inflation. This is the average education cost increase, for tuition, room and board rate over the past 10 years according to the 2024 Trends in College Pricing Report.

Definitions

• Age of children: Your goal for the total value of your investment or investments.
• Age to start education: The number of years you’d like to save for until reaching your investment goal. 
• Annual Tuition: The current estimated cost of one year of tuition and books. This amount should be per child and be specific to the school they may be interested in attending. The average published costs of college tuition at a Private 4-year institution (not including room and Board) for the 2024-25 school year as reported by the College Board is $43,350. For the purposes of this calculator all expenses are assumed to be due at the end of the year.
• Room and board: The current estimated cost of one-year room and board. Like tuition and books, this amount should be per child and specific to the school they may be interested in attending. The average published costs of room and board at a Private 4-year institution, as reported by the College Board is $15,250. For the purposes of this calculator, all expenses are assumed to be due at the end of the year.

• Education cost inflation: This calculator uses 0.67% as the education cost of inflation. This is the average education cost increase, for tuition, room and board rate over the past 10 years according to the 2024 Trends in College Pricing Report. 
• Current Amount: The total amount you currently have saved for your children's education.
• Monthly Contributions: The dollar amount you plan to save per month toward your children's education. All amounts are assumed to be added to your account at the beginning of the month.
• Rate of return on investment: This is the rate of return you expect from your investments. The historical average stock market return, as measured by the S&P 500, generally hovers around 10 percent annually before adjusting for inflation, and about 6 to 7 percent when adjusted for inflation.

You are also able to select the frequency that earnings are compounded in your investment account. The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the types of investments you select. The Standard & Poor's 500® (S&P 500®) for the 10 years ending December 31st 2016, had an annual compounded rate of return of 6.6%, including reinvestment of dividends. From January 1, 1970 to December 31st 2016, the average annual compounded rate of return for the S&P 500®, including reinvestment of dividends, was approximately 10.3% (source: www.standardandpoors.com). Since 1970, the highest 12-month return was 61% (June 1982 through June 1983). The lowest 12-month return was -43% (March 2008 to March 2009). Savings accounts at a financial institution may pay as little as 0.25% or less but carry significantly lower risk of loss of principal balances.

These calculations are hypothetical. Investments that pay higher rates of return are generally subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for long-term investments. This includes the potential loss of principal on your investment. It is not possible to invest directly in an index and the compounded rate of return noted above does not reflect sales charges and other fees that Separate Account investment funds and/or investment companies may charge.