College cost calculator

Project college costs year by year using your current annual cost and assumed increase.

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College cost calculator processes your input in this browser. Inputs and results are excluded from analytics. Recent tools save tool names, visit counts and last-visit times. Saved tools store only their names. Draft saving is optional and stays on this device; delete saved text with the draft controls. Loading text from a URL is optional and contacts that server; its URL and your IP address are visible to the server. An optional “Use in” action keeps a handoff in this tab. The next tool removes it on arrival and ignores it if more than a minute has passed.

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First-year annual cost in today’s money

Years before enrollment

More inputs and assumptions

College years

Annual cost increase (%)

Answer

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Project college costs year by year using your current annual cost and assumed increase.

More results

Precision and calculation record

Decimal places in numeric results and text downloads

Rounding changes displayed numbers, not the calculation. Text, fractions, matrices and CSV schedules keep their own formatting. Automatic keeps up to 12 significant digits, with money shown to cents where applicable.

Saved scenario

Save the current answer, then change an input to compare. This clears when you leave.

Formula and assumptions

Each academic year’s cost = today’s annual cost × (1 + growth)^(years until that year). Not a tuition quote; scholarships, aid, taxes, program changes and living-cost differences are omitted. Fixed assumptions only: no taxes, fees, changing returns, guarantees or product eligibility. Amounts share one currency.

Automatic precision shows numbers to 12 significant digits. Thousands separators such as 1,000 are accepted; use a dot for decimals.

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Updated 2026-09-26

Using College cost calculator

Project college costs year by year using your current annual cost and assumed increase.

Next: College savings calculator

A worked example

Example inputs: first-year annual cost in today’s money = 20000, years before enrollment = 10, college years = 4, annual cost increase (%) = 0. Projected total college costs = 80000.

Before you use the result

Example results for first-year annual cost in today’s money

These examples use Years before enrollment: 10; College years: 4; Annual cost increase (%): 0. They are reference calculations, not recommended settings.

First-year annual cost in today’s money	Projected total college costs
10000	40000
20000	80000
40000	160000

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ToolOctopus. “College cost calculator.” Updated 2026-09-26. https://tooloctopus.com/college-cost-calculator.

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