College Savings Calculator

Because nothing leaks to taxes. A 529 grows tax-deferred and withdrawals for qualified education expenses are tax-free, so every dollar of growth is spendable. The taxable brokerage and UGMA columns must overshoot the target to cover capital gains tax at withdrawal, and savings-account interest is taxed every single year, which is why those options need a bigger monthly check to land on the same number.

A 529 is more flexible than its reputation. You can change the beneficiary to a sibling, use it for trade school or graduate school, withdraw up to the scholarship amount penalty-free (gains taxed but no 10% penalty), or roll up to $35,000 lifetime into the beneficiary's Roth IRA under SECURE 2.0 rules. Non-qualified withdrawals pay ordinary income tax plus a 10% penalty on the earnings portion only, never on your contributions.

It is the historical norm. Published tuition has risen roughly 5–6% per year over the past few decades, well above general inflation, though the pace has cooled at many public schools recently. This is the most sensitive input in the model, so try 4% and 6% with the slider and look at how much the future cost swings before you lock in a monthly number.

Usually yes if your state offers a deduction or credit, because the tax break is typically only available for contributions to your home-state plan. If your state has no income tax or no deduction (set the state tax slider to 0%), you are free to shop any state's plan on fees and investment options alone, since 529 money can be spent at eligible schools nationwide regardless of which state sponsors the plan.

Only mildly when the parent owns it. A parent-owned 529 is assessed at a maximum of 5.64% of its value in the federal aid formula, far gentler than student-owned assets like a UGMA/UTMA, which are assessed at 20%. That assessment gap is one more reason the 529 usually beats the custodial account for college-specific saving.

It assumes a constant rate of return, which real markets never deliver, and it does not model financial aid, scholarships, plan fees, glide-path shifts to bonds as college nears, Coverdell ESA income limits, state tax recapture if you move, or the kiddie-tax brackets in detail (the UGMA column uses a simplified 30% effective discount on the capital gains rate). Treat the output as a planning anchor, not a quote.

Start from today's published 4-year totals and let the calculator inflate them: roughly $115k for public in-state, $200k public out-of-state, and $240k private (tuition, fees, room, and board). If you only plan to fund part of the bill, enter that fraction as the target. The info button next to Child & Goal has the same reference numbers.