Farm Credit Services Southwest: Financial Solutions: Calculators

College Savings Plan

Saving for your children's education requires a long-term plan. And like saving for retirement, the earlier you start your plan the better. Use this calculator to help develop or fine tune your education savings plan.

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Definitions

Age of children	Current age of your children. This calculator is based on each child beginning his or her college education at age 18. The difference between the current age and 18 is the number of years you have to save.
Annual tuition	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.
Room and board	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.
Education cost inflation	This is the percentage that you expect educational costs to increase per year.
Current savings	The total amount you currently have saved for your child's (or children's) education.
Monthly additions to savings	The amount you plan to save per month.
Rate of return	The annual percentage rate you expect to earn on your educational savings. The average rate of return on the U.S. stock market has been 11% for the last 75 years. You may wish to use a more conservative rate of return if your child is within 10 years of attending school.

Information and interactive calculators are made available to you as self-help tools for your independent use. We can not and do not guarantee their accuracy or their applicability to your circumstances. We encourage you to seek advice from qualified professionals regarding all personal finance issues.

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