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College savings planner

See whether you're likely to reach your college goals!

This planner assumes you're using an account with tax benefits to save for college. If you aren't, you'll need to pay income taxes on your earnings as your account grows. Note that if you take money out of your account to pay these taxes, the planner's results won't be accurate.

Results for Child 1

Cost of college
Estimated total cost
Amount you plan to cover
Amount needed to meet your savings goal
Based on current savings,
you'll cover ...
To reach the full amount you
plan to cover ...
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The national average cost data is from The College Board's annual "Trends in College Pricing" report. All Rights Reserved. College cost information used in this tool comes from various governmental and other publicly available sources, including the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System of the National Center for Educational Statistics of the Institute of Education Sciences, the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. SS&C Technologies, Inc. and its affiliates are not responsible for the completeness or accuracy of information obtained from such third-party sources.

All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest.

For more information about any 529 savings plan, contact the plan provider to obtain a Program Description, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other information; read and consider it carefully before investing. If you are not a taxpayer of the state offering the plan, consider before investing whether your or the designated beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in such state's qualified tuition program. Other state benefits may include financial aid, scholarship funds, and protection from creditors. Vanguard Marketing Corporation serves as distributor for some 529 plans.

This tool isn't intended to constitute, nor does it constitute, tax advice. You should consult your own tax advisor for more information on the tax implications of investing in a 529 plan based on your own particular circumstances.
Vanguard ship logo © 1995–2025 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor of the Vanguard Funds. Your use of this site signifies that you accept our terms & conditions of use.

Here are the average costs of one year of college in today`s dollars for several types of school. In addition to tuition, all costs include room & board on campus, except for public two-year schools for which an estimate of off-campus living expenses is included. Please click the "Select Cost or Specific College" link below this input section to view and select other averages or colleges.

Public 2-year school $14,440
Public 4-year school, in-state $24,920
Public 4-year school, out-of-state $44,090
Private 4-year school, average $58,600
Private 4-year school, expensive $70,731
Average Cost Data © 2025 The College Board, "Trends in College Pricing 2024". Costs are rounded to $100.

We assume your accounts will grow by 6% a year on average because of earnings in the account. You can enter a different rate of return instead.

We assume you'll plan to cover 50% of total college costs through your savings. You can change this assumption by using the slider.

We assume college costs will rise by 5% a year. You can enter your own expected rate of increase.

Some college savings accounts, like 529 savings plans, give you tax-deferred growth and tax-free withdrawals. This means that you won't pay any income taxes on the amount your account earns while it's growing, and if you use the money for qualified education expenses, those earnings will be tax-free when you withdraw them.