Early Life Investments, LLC
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Early Life Investments
Early Life Investments
A Family Financial Head Start

“The best time to build lifelong money habits is when you are young. The second-best time is today.”

Educational only: The author of Early Life Investments is not a Certified Financial Planner. The content here reflects the author's personal opinions and experience and is for general educational purposes only. Read the full disclaimer.

Free Tool — College Planning

College Savings Calculator

Real 2025–26 cost data, your savings, and the monthly number that closes the gap — no email required.

Enter your child’s age and what you save today — see the projected four-year bill, whether you are on track, and the monthly number that closes the gap.

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Projected 4-year cost at 18
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Projected savings at 18
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Gap (your share)
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Monthly needed to close gap

Warning: Assumes contributions continue monthly until age 18 and growth compounds monthly. Today’s cost figures are 2025–26 national averages for total cost of attendance (tuition, fees, housing, and food) from the College Board.[1] Estimates only — not a guarantee of future costs or returns.

How to Read Your Numbers

Three things move this math more than anything else.

  1. Time: a dollar saved at age 3 works three times as long as one saved at 13 — if the monthly number looks impossible, starting earlier matters more than saving harder.
  2. School choice: the spread between community college and private is more than $175,000 over four years; the “share you cover” box exists because full-ride parenting is not the only honorable plan.
  3. The account: the same dollars grow tax-free for education inside a 529 plan — and thanks to SECURE 2.0, up to $35,000 of leftovers can roll to your child’s Roth IRA, so overshooting is no longer a disaster.

If the gap stays stubborn, the plan is not “borrow the difference” — it is the priority order identified in Student Loans Under 18:

  1. Scholarships
  2. Earnings
  3. Savings — not your retirement
  4. Then federal loans

And if you are choosing between accounts, the 529 vs. custodial vs. Roth comparison settles it.

References & Resources

  1. College Board. Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025. Average 2025–26 budgets: $30,990 public in-state, $50,920 out-of-state, $65,470 private nonprofit, $21,320 public two-year. See the data
  2. Federal Student Aid — FAFSA, grants, and federal loan programs.
  3. SavingForCollege.com — 529 plan comparisons by state.