Use this free college cost calculator to estimate future annual college cost, total school cost, projected savings, and savings gap from current cost, years until start, school length, and savings plan.
$28,000 today, starting in 8 years
Financial aid, scholarships, grants, tax credits, housing, and school-specific costs can change the real amount.
Estimate a future college cost from today’s annual cost.
Compare projected savings with estimated total cost.
Test how monthly savings changes the gap.
Plan a starting point before using school net-price calculators.
Total cost and savings gap
Near-term cost estimate
Shorter program estimate
Plain-language answers about when to use the estimate, what your numbers mean, what is left out, and how privacy works.
Use it for early planning and side-by-side comparisons, especially for tasks like these: Estimate a future college cost from today’s annual cost. Compare projected savings with estimated total cost. Treat the answer as a planning estimate, not a final quote.
In plain language: The calculator grows today’s annual cost until school starts, adds each school year with annual increases, then compares that total with projected savings. If the result seems too high or too low, first check whether each field expects a monthly amount, annual amount, dollar value, or percent.
This does not include school-specific aid, scholarships, grants, tax credits, loans, housing changes, residency rules, tuition guarantees, or billing details. Real finance decisions can also depend on fees, timing, local rules, credit details, and provider-specific terms.
No. The calculator runs in your browser tab. Recent answers stay only on the page while you use it, and they are not sent to a server.