MICHELLE SMALENBERGER, CFP ®

Now that you have a child or grandchild you may want to help them plan for college.  When they’re young we have time to plan ahead. We are going to look at a few different options to show the difference between college choices.  This will give you some idea to begin the conversation.

4-yr. Public In-State:

Tuition: $60,000

Room & Board: $15,000 per year

4-yr. Private Out-of-State:

Tuition: $125,000

Room & Board: $15,000 per year

2-yr. Junior College, 2-yr. Public University

Tuition: $36,000

Room & Board: $15,000 per year

In addition to the above annual numbers consider that education costs increase at a rate of about 5% per year.  Some states could have a much larger annual rate of inflation for college costs and some could be lower. So it will depend on the state you are considering.

As we started considering these costs and how we funded our education it made us start to consider how we want to be planning ahead for our daughter.  I attended a four-year, Public university in-state and Steve attended two years at a junior college and two years at a public, in-state university. As you look at the above numbers your mind might change depending on how you value the cost of education.