529 Plan Calculator

College costs climb faster than almost any other household expense, so the real question for any savings plan is whether today's contributions will keep pace with tomorrow's tuition. Projecting that gap matters because the average in-state tuition at public four-year universities is expected to be around $12,000 annually by 2026, while private universities could exceed $45,000 annually. Seeing those numbers against your projected balance shows whether you are on track or falling behind before enrollment arrives.

Two moving parts drive the projection here. The first is a compound annual growth rate applied to your 529 investments, generally assumed to be an average return of 5-7% after fees. The second is an estimated tuition inflation rate, often in the 3-5% range, used to push current college prices forward to the year your student starts. Subtracting the inflation-adjusted cost of attendance from your projected 529 balance produces the savings gap, the figure that tells you how much further your plan needs to stretch.

Treat the output as a planning estimate rather than a promise. Investment returns are never guaranteed, and tuition inflation swings from year to year and from school to school, with out-of-state and private institutions especially easy to underestimate. Revisiting the projection as your child grows and your finances shift keeps the plan anchored to reality instead of to assumptions you made years earlier.