acalculator

Will my 529 plan cover college?

Enter the child’s age, what you have saved, and what you add each month. See what the plan holds when college starts and how much of the cost it covers.

Your numbers

Returns are never guaranteed.
You’ll have when college starts
$79,517.08

Saving $250.00 a month from $10,000.00, you’ll have $79,517.08 when college starts, covering 100% of the $73,418.38 it will cost.

College will cost
$73,418.38
Share of the cost your plan covers
100%
Left to pay from elsewhere
$0.00
Monthly saving to cover it all
$197.39
Left after college
$15,459.48
Months
204

You’ll have when college starts: $79,517.08. Saving $250.00 a month from $10,000.00, you’ll have $79,517.08 when college starts, covering 100% of the $73,418.38 it will cost.

How does the plan grow and pay for college?

What does each year look like?

The results are estimates for information only. They are not financial, tax, or legal advice. Check the numbers with your lender or a qualified professional before you decide. Terms of use

How to calculate

Projects a 529 college savings plan until college starts and how much of the rising cost of college it covers, with the monthly saving that would cover it all.

Example with the default inputs (Child’s age now 5, College starts at age 18, Years of college 4, Type of college Public four-year, in-state: $11,950, College costs rise each year by 3%, Saved so far $10,000.00, You add each month $250.00, Expected yearly return 6%): Saving $250.00 a month from $10,000.00, you’ll have $79,517.08 when college starts, covering 100% of the $73,418.38 it will cost.

Method: Each month the balance grows at (1 + R)^(1/12) − 1 and your saving is added until college starts; at the start of each college year, its cost, today’s cost × (1 + cost growth)^(years from now), is paid from the plan.

  • The return and the rise in college costs stay the same every year.
  • The presets are average published tuition and fees for 2025-26 (College Board); housing, food, and books are not included. Pick your own cost to add them.
  • Saving stops when college starts. Each year’s cost is paid at the start of that college year.
  • Financial aid, scholarships, taxes, and plan fees are not included. Withdrawals for qualified education expenses are tax-free.
  • This is an estimate for planning, not financial advice.

Machine-readable copies: Markdown, JSON.

Worked examples

Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.

  1. Child’s age now 14, College starts at age 18, Years of college 4, Type of college My own yearly cost, Yearly cost today $10,000.00, College costs rise each year by 0%, Saved so far $12,000.00, You add each month $500.00, Expected yearly return 0% gives You’ll have when college starts $36,000.00, College will cost $40,000.00, Share of the cost your plan covers 90%, Left to pay from elsewhere $4,000.00, Monthly saving to cover it all $583.33, Left after college $0.00.Source: hand calculation in content.mdx: 12,000 + 48 × 500 = 36,000; (40,000 − 12,000) ÷ 48
  2. Child’s age now 17, College starts at age 18, Years of college 4, Type of college Private nonprofit four-year: $45,000, College costs rise each year by 0%, Saved so far $0.00, You add each month $0.00, Expected yearly return 0% gives College will cost $180,000.00, Share of the cost your plan covers 0%, Left to pay from elsewhere $180,000.00, Monthly saving to cover it all $15,000.00.Source: College Board 2025-26 average private nonprofit four-year tuition and fees, $45,000; 4 × 45,000; 180,000 ÷ 12
  3. Child’s age now 5, College starts at age 18, Years of college 4, Type of college Public four-year, in-state: $11,950, College costs rise each year by 3%, Saved so far $10,000.00, You add each month $250.00, Expected yearly return 6% gives You’ll have when college starts $79,517.08, College will cost $73,418.38, Share of the cost your plan covers 100%, Monthly saving to cover it all $197.39, Left after college $15,459.48.Source: College Board 2025-26 public four-year in-state $11,950; month by month in content.mdx, checked in Python

How it is worked out

With the expected yearly return R and the yearly rise in college costs c (as decimals), the calculator runs month by month. The monthly rate is g = (1 + R)^(1/12) − 1. Let Y = college starts at age − child’s age now (years until college) and M = 12 × Y (months until college).

Yearly cost. Today’s yearly cost is the preset’s tuition and fees, or your own amount. College year j (j = 0 for the first year) costs today’s cost × (1 + c)^(Y + j).

Month by month, for M months of saving and then 12 months for each college year:

  1. At the start of each college year, that year’s cost is due. The plan pays it, or all it holds if that is less.
  2. Growth = (balance − amount paid) × g is added.
  3. Before college, your monthly amount is added at the end of the month. Saving stops when college starts.

The results:

  • You’ll have when college starts is the balance after M months, before the first year is paid.
  • College will cost adds every college year’s cost. Share of the cost your plan covers = what the plan paid ÷ that total. Left to pay from elsewhere is the unpaid part. Left after college is the balance at the end of the last college year.
  • Monthly saving to cover it all = (PV of costs − saved) ÷ A, or $0 if that is below zero. PV of costs = Σ cost of year j ÷ (1 + R)^(Y + j). A = (1 − (1 + g)^−M) ÷ g, the value today of $1 saved at the end of each of the M months (A = M at 0%).

If college does not start at an age after the child’s age now, there is no answer.

Assumptions

  • The return and the rise in college costs stay the same every year.
  • Financial aid, taxes, and plan fees are not included.
  • This is an estimate for planning, not financial advice.

Worked examples by hand

Age 14, college at 18 for 4 years, $10,000 a year, no rise, $12,000 saved, $500 a month, 0% return. M = 48, so the plan holds 12,000 + 48 × 500 = $36,000 when college starts. College costs 4 × 10,000 = $40,000. The plan pays $10,000 in each of the first three years and the last $6,000 in year four, so it covers 36,000 ÷ 40,000 = 90%, and $4,000 is left to pay. To cover it all you would need (40,000 − 12,000) ÷ 48 = $583.33 a month.

Age 17, one year to a private nonprofit four-year college ($45,000 a year), nothing saved, no rise, 0%. College costs 4 × 45,000 = $180,000, the plan covers 0%, and to cover it all you would need 180,000 ÷ 12 = $15,000 a month for the 12 months left.

Age 5, college at 18 for 4 years, public four-year in-state ($11,950), 3% rise, $10,000 saved, $250 a month, 6% return. Y = 13, M = 156, g = 1.06^(1/12) − 1 = 0.0048676.

  • When college starts: 10,000 × 1.06^13 = 10,000 × 2.132928 = $21,329.28, plus 250 × (2.132928 − 1) ÷ 0.0048676 = $58,187.80, so $79,517.08.
  • College years cost 11,950 × 1.03^13 = $17,548.98, then $18,075.45, $18,617.71, and $19,176.24: $73,418.38 in total. The plan pays all of it (100%) and $15,459.48 is left after college.
  • PV of costs = Σ 11,950 × (1.03 ÷ 1.06)^(13 + j) = $31,539.61. A = (1 − 1.06^−13) ÷ 0.0048676 = 109.1228. So covering it all takes (31,539.61 − 10,000) ÷ 109.1228 = $197.39 a month.

Other questions people ask

What is a 529 plan?

A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan for education, named after section 529 of the tax code and sponsored by states or schools. There are two kinds: education savings plans, where your money is invested and can rise or fall, and prepaid tuition plans, which lock in tuition at today’s prices at certain colleges. This calculator is for an education savings plan.

What can I pay for with a 529 plan?

Qualified higher education expenses, such as tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment, and room and board for a student enrolled at least half-time. Some K-12 tuition and student loan payments (up to $10,000 over a lifetime) can qualify too. Earnings grow tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified expenses are not taxed.

What if I take money out for something else?

The earnings part of a withdrawal that is more than the qualified expenses is taxable, and it usually carries a 10% additional tax as well. Your own contributions come back without tax.

What do the college presets include?

They are the College Board’s average published (sticker) tuition and fees for 2025-26: $4,150 at a public two-year college, $11,950 at a public four-year college in-state, $31,880 out-of-state, and $45,000 at a private nonprofit four-year college. Housing, food, and books are not included, and many students pay less after grants. Choose "My own yearly cost" to enter a full budget.

What happens to money left over?

You can change the beneficiary to another family member, keep it for later education, or, since 2024, roll some of it into the beneficiary’s Roth IRA: the 529 account must have been open at least 15 years, each year’s rollover counts toward the Roth IRA limit, and the lifetime total is $35,000.

How is the monthly saving to cover it all worked out?

It is the monthly amount whose value today, at your expected return, plus what you have saved, equals the value today of every college year’s cost. With a 0% return and no cost rise, it is simply (total cost − saved) ÷ months until college.