College savings calculator

Find the month-end contribution needed to reach your chosen education fund target.

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College savings 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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College fund target

Already saved

More inputs and assumptions

Months until target

Annual effective return (%)

Answer

…

Find the month-end contribution needed to reach your chosen education fund target.

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

Monthly rate = (1 + annual return)^(1/12) − 1. Required contribution = max(0, target − future value of savings)/annuity factor. No 529 tax benefit, contribution rule or investment guarantee is assumed. 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.

Scratch calculator

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Use +, −, ×, ÷, parentheses and %. A percentage is divided by 100. This does not change the main tool.

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Updated 2026-09-26

Using College savings calculator

Find the month-end contribution needed to reach your chosen education fund target.

Next: College cost calculator

A worked example

Example inputs: college fund target = 24000, already saved = 12000, months until target = 120, annual effective return (%) = 0. Monthly savings required = 100.

Before you use the result

Example results for college fund target

These examples use Already saved: 12000; Months until target: 120; Annual effective return (%): 0. They are reference calculations, not recommended settings.

College fund target	Monthly savings required
12000	0
24000	100
48000	300

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

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