Here’s something that will scare the crap out of your savings account: Sallie Mae’s Education Investment Planner.
http://go.salliemae.com/save/?pin=&%20dtd_cell=EM609EPSDC
You enter your child’s birthday (so it can calculate how many years you have to save until s/he is 18), college type (private bachelors, out of state, etc) and it tallies the estimated tuition costs. Then you input how much you’ve saved already (laughable, I know) and the amount you are planning to put away each month. It then shows you how much you (your child) will have to borrow after they drain their college fund.
Even if I save $1000 per month for the next 18 years (and who is going to do that?), I still wouldn’t reach the whopping $340K + estimate for Ryder to attend a private 4-year University that is out of state.
Hey thanks for posting this. I actually created this tool for Sallie Mae, and we’ve been sharing it with friends and families over the past 6 months since we launched it on 05/29 of this year. It can be scary to look at these numbers – but what I hoped to was have parents confront the truth that college WILL be expensive, and to motivate them to start saving early and often. Even if its $25 or $50 a month, over a long time, it can make a difference! But often parents don’t want to confront that elephant in the room, and then its time for their children to attend school and they end up having to borrow more than they should.
A benefit of this tool is that if you save your plan for future examination, you can receive follow up savings-themed guidance that works with you from now til the time your children start school.
I hope this tool helps you and your readers. If there are any questions or concerns about this tool, I’d love to hear about them and help as well. Thanks – Ryan