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Saving for College

What four years will cost by the time your kid gets there, how fast that number has been climbing, and how much to put in a 529 every month to cover it. Real prices back to 1971, then argue with every assumption.

To pay for 4 years at a public in-state college from fall 2044, save

$582 a month

The bills come to $225K, or $138K in today's dollars. Or put $77K in today and never add another dollar; wait 5 years to start and it's $953 a month.
The 529, year by year Balance You put in College bill
$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250K03691215Age 18192021

Contributions stop when college starts; the rest of the balance keeps growing while it pays the bills, half each August and January.

Start before they're born

You don't have to wait for the baby. A 529 can be opened years before, even before there's a baby to name. Three years early cuts the monthly bill by 23%, from $582 to $448, for the same $27K-a-year school. Wait until they're 10 and it's $1,797.

Monthly contribution, by when you start from zero Their age today Other start ages
$0$500$1,000$1,500$2,0005 yrs beforeBirthAge 5Age 10
Start at birth $582 a month 18 years of saving

How, before there's a child: open the 529 with yourself (or your partner) as the beneficiary, then change it to the baby once they have a Social Security number. Switching to a family member is tax-free. If the balance is big by then, the switch counts as a gift to the child, which the $19,000 annual exclusion or the five-year election usually covers. Every start age here begins from nothing, so what you've already saved isn't counted.

Every kind of school, same kid

SchoolA year nowGrowth / yr4 years, when they goIn today’s dollarsSave / moOr once, today
$27K3.9%$225K$138K$582$77K
$48K3.9%$398K$245K$1,031$136K
$63K3.8%$527K$323K$1,363$180K
$95K4%$823K$505K$2,129$281K

How fast college prices have risen

Growth since 2005–06 (= 100) Ivy+Private nonprofit four-yearPublic four-year, in-stateInflation (CPI)
1001201401601802002202006200820102012201420162018202020222024220213212165
Average yearly increase in tuition, fees, housing and food, to 2025–26
Last 10 yearsLast 20 yearsAll years
Public four-year, in-state2.8% −0.28% over inflation 3.9% +1.3% over inflation 5.5% +1.6% over inflation since 1971–72
Private nonprofit four-year3.3% +0.22% over inflation 3.8% +1.3% over inflation 5.8% +1.8% over inflation since 1971–72
Ivy+3.9% +0.77% over inflation 4% +1.4% over inflation 4.2% +1.6% over inflation since 2001–02
Inflation (CPI)3.1%2.5%3.9%

The state of 529 plans

$653.5B in 529 plans (June 30, 2026)
18.2M accounts
$36K average balance
0.3% average fee, buying direct (0.79% through an advisor)
Assets in 529 plans, year end: up 9.3% a year since 2010, with 2022's bear market the one real dip.
$0$200B$400B$600B$800B201020132016201920222025
Growth is tax-free
Contributions go in after federal tax, but earnings are never taxed if they pay for qualified education: tuition, fees, books, a computer, and housing and food for students enrolled at least half-time.
You can start before there’s a baby
A 529 needs a named beneficiary, so name yourself, then switch it to the child once they have a Social Security number. Changing to a family member is tax-free, and every year of head start is a year of compounding the monthly bill doesn’t have to make up.
No annual limit, but a gift-tax line
Gifts up to $19,000 per child per year (2026) need no paperwork. "Superfunding" lets you front-load five years at once: $95,000, or $190,000 from a married couple. Each state caps an account's lifetime balance, from about $269K (North Dakota) to $621K (New Hampshire).
State tax breaks
37 states and DC give a deduction or credit for contributions, usually only to their own plan. Caps run from $1,000 (Maine, Rhode Island) to unlimited (New Mexico, South Carolina, West Virginia). Nine of the 13 states without one have no income tax to deduct from.
K–12 doubled to $20,000
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 2025) raised the K–12 limit from $10,000 to $20,000 a year starting in 2026, and added curriculum, tutoring, test fees and educational therapies to tuition. Trade and credential programs now qualify too.
Leftovers can become a Roth IRA
SECURE 2.0 lets the child roll up to $35,000 over their lifetime into their own Roth IRA, one year’s IRA limit at a time ($7,500 in 2026), once the account is 15 years old. The last five years of contributions can’t move.
Student loans, siblings, or the penalty
Up to $10,000 per person can repay student loans, and you can switch the beneficiary to a sibling, cousin or yourself. Otherwise, money taken out for anything else pays income tax plus a 10% penalty on the earnings only, waived for scholarships.
Barely dents financial aid
A parent-owned 529 counts as a parent asset on the FAFSA, assessed at no more than 5.64% a year. Since 2024–25, grandparent-owned 529s don’t count at all, before or after withdrawals.

About this tool

Who it's for
For parents and grandparents planning how much to put into a 529.
What you can enter
Your child's birth year, the kind of school, years of college, what you've saved, the share the 529 should pay, plan fees, stock and bond returns, and inflation.
What it runs on
College Board published prices back to 1971–72, Ivy+ sticker prices, and Morningstar 529 glide paths. Sources and simplifications are under How this is calculated.
Who made it
Sam Wen, co-founder of Square. Free, no sign-up; it runs in your browser. Last updated .

Spot a mistake, or a rule that changed? Tell me.

Frequently asked questions

Should I save for college before retirement?

No. Your kid can borrow for college; nobody lends you money to retire. Get the employer match and a sensible retirement rate first, then fund the 529. If it helps, think of it as your child's future gift to themselves: not having to support you at 80.

Can I open a 529 before my kid is born? Before there’s even a kid?

Yes, and it's the cheapest time to start. Open it naming yourself as the beneficiary, then change the beneficiary to the baby once they have a Social Security number; switching to a family member is tax-free. If the account has grown large by then, the switch counts as a gift to the child, which the annual exclusion or five-year election usually absorbs. Pick a year before birth under "Age now" to see the difference.

Nobody actually pays the sticker price, right?

Many don't. After grants, the average full-time student pays about 53.9% of the published price at a private college and 62.7% at a public one. The richest schools go further: Harvard and MIT charge no tuition to families earning under $200,000. But grants follow income, and a family that saved diligently often earns too much for much of it. Plan on sticker, then lower "Share the 529 pays" if you expect help.

Tuition goes up 8% a year, doesn’t it?

It used to. Over the last ten years, public tuition, fees, housing and food rose 2.8% a year while inflation ran 3.1%, so in real terms it got cheaper. States restored funding after the 2008 cuts and many froze tuition. The 1980s through the 2000s were the bad decades; pick "all-time" growth if you think they're coming back.

Will a 529 wreck our financial aid?

Barely. A parent-owned 529 counts as a parent asset, and the FAFSA takes at most 5.64% of parent assets a year into account. $50,000 saved trims aid eligibility by no more than about $2,800 a year. Grandparent-owned 529s no longer count at all.

What if my kid skips college?

Trade schools, apprenticeships and credential programs qualify now. Or switch the beneficiary to a sibling, a cousin, a future grandchild or yourself, roll up to $35,000 into their Roth IRA, or pay off $10,000 of student loans. Cashing out for a boat costs income tax plus a 10% penalty, but only on the earnings.

Is the Ivy+ line just a flex?

Partly. The middle Ivy+ school charged $92K for tuition, fees, housing and food in 2025–26, and every one of the twelve has already announced more than $89,000 for 2026–27. UChicago's $99,369 makes it the first school that will cross $100,000. For a newborn, the projection crosses half a million for four years.

Which state’s plan should I use?

Start with your own: 37 states and DC give a tax break for contributing, usually only to their plan. If yours doesn't, or you live somewhere with no income tax, any state's plan is open to you; pick a direct-sold one with low-cost index portfolios. The fee field above shows what half a percent costs over eighteen years.

Not financial advice. The kid may also just want to be a DJ.

How this is calculated

The plan

  • A year of college is published tuition and fees plus on-campus housing and food, optionally with books, transportation and personal costs. It starts at the latest 2025–26 price, grows once to this fall (2026–27), then at the growth rate you set every year until each year of college.
  • Bills are paid half in August and half in January of each year, times the share the 529 pays.
  • The monthly figure is the level contribution, made at the end of every month from now until the fall the child turns 18, that leaves the 529 at exactly zero after the last bill. Money still invested keeps earning during college. The lump sum is the single deposit today that does the same.
  • Returns blend your stock and bond rates by the portfolio's share in stocks at each age, minus the plan's fee, compounded monthly. The typical glide path follows Morningstar's industry average: about 92% stocks at birth and 18.3% at enrollment. The aggressive one follows Utah my529's target-enrollment series.
  • Today's dollars divide each year's price by your inflation rate over the same years. Qualified withdrawals are tax-free, so there's no tax in the plan.

Data and simplifications

  • Public and private prices are the College Board's enrollment-weighted averages, back to 1971–72. Out-of-state prices exist only for recent years, so they grow at in-state's historical rate. State prices are each state's public four-year average; housing and food is the national figure.
  • Ivy+ is the median of the eight Ivies plus Stanford, MIT, UChicago and Duke: IPEDS through 2023–24, then each school's own published tuition, required fees, and standard housing and food. Waivable fees, one-time first-year fees and health insurance are left out.
  • Growth rates are steady averages. Real prices and markets lurch; a crash the year before freshman year hurts more than the average suggests, which is why glide paths move to bonds.
  • Grants, scholarships, state tax deductions for contributions, and the contributions themselves rising with income aren't modeled. Inflation shown is the BLS CPI-U annual average.
  • This is a planning estimate, not financial or tax advice.

Sources

College price data compiled 2026-10-02.