{{$select.selected}}

{{ user.percentOfCollegeCost }}% of college cost

Alternate Funding - {{ alternativelyFunded() | currencyShort }} (this amount is assumed to be funded by financial aid, student employment, current income, and/or loans)

Savings Plan
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Summary
Your Savings Goal

Monthly Contribution Needed

With {{ user.currentSavings | currencyShort }} currently saved and a {{ user.rateOfReturn }}% rate of return, you must save per month to meet your savings goal of {{ savingsTarget() | currencyShort }}. The table below lists the additional and total monthly contributions needed for each year savings is delayed for the next five years.

Years Delayed
The amount of years savings is delayed
Additional Monthly Contribution
The additional amount you’ll need to save each month if you delay your savings by the years delayed
Total Monthly Contribution
The total amount you’ll need to save each month if you delay your savings by the years delayed

Additional Monthly Contributions

The chart below shows the additional amount you will need to save each year if you delay the start of your savings program. For example, hover over year 1. If you wait three years to begin saving, you will have to increase your monthly contribution by {{ (user.monthlyContributions[1] - user.monthlyContributions[0]) | currencyShort }} to reach the same end savings amount as if you began saving today.

Recapturing Delayed Savings

The information above assumes a savings goal that is {{ user.percentOfCollegeCost }}% of the total cost of college. Below is analysis of how choosing savings goals at different percentages of college cost affects the monthly contribution needed to meet the goal, and how much more it increases every year that savings is delayed.

Monthly Contribution
Years Delayed100% of Cost75% of Cost50% of Cost25% of Cost

The following assumptions are made in the above calculations:

  • College savings are compounded monthly based on the hypothetical rate of return.
  • Children will attend college immediately after their senior year of high school. Children who are in Pre-K will attend school when they are 18 (based off of their birth year). These assumptions affect the time value of money in the future value estimates of our savings and college costs.
  • No withdrawals are made during this time period
  • No deduction for fees

The following college data has been collected from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS):

  • Tuition & Fees
  • Expenses
  • Room & Board
  • Books and Supplies

When selecting a college type (public or private National Average option), the average figure presented is for all of the educational institutions of that type that report their data to IPEDS. For example, National Private Nonprofit Four-Year is the average of all private, nonprofit, four-year schools provided by IPEDS. By default, the cost of attendance of all colleges (specific colleges and national average options), includes the sum of the tuition and fees, expenses, room and board, and books and supplies.

The Cost of Delaying Savings Calculator is intended to provide an estimate of the additional contribution one must make when they delay saving for college based on (a) information provided by colleges and universities to the IPEDS database, (b) assumptions, some of which may be provided by the user, with regard to the college inflation rate and the rate of return on savings, and (c) information provided by the user. The Cost of Delaying Savings Calculator does not reflect management, administrative, and other fees associated with 529 plans. If these fees had been reflected, any growth of the account value during the same investment period would have been lower. All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money invested. Investments in a 529 Plan are neither insured nor guaranteed. These hypothetical scenarios are intended to be an illustration of potential outcomes and are not to be considered advice or recommendations and are not guarantees of future results.

The Cost of Delaying Savings Calculator is supplied, maintained, and powered by Invite Education, LLC and Invite Education, LLC does not guarantee the accuracy, suitability or usefulness of these results, and shall not be responsible for any investment or trading decisions, gains or losses, or advice resulting from this analysis.

Please consult investment, tax or legal advisors for qualified professional advice in these areas.

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