College Cost Planner

What is the College Cost Planner?

Education costs in India rise faster than general inflation – often 8–12% a year. This college cost planner projects fees and living costs to the year college starts and through the course.

It then works out the corpus you need at the start and the monthly SIP or one-time investment to build it.

How to use the College Cost Planner

1. Current Annual Fee (₹) (sample: 2,00,000)
2. Current Yearly Hostel & Living Costs (₹) (sample: 1,50,000)
3. Years Until College Starts (sample: 10)
4. Course Duration (years) (sample: 4)
5. Education Inflation (% per year) (sample: 10)
6. Expected Investment Return (% per year) (sample: 12)
7. Press Plan College Costs (results also refresh as you type). The result card shows the Monthly SIP Needed, along with Total cost of the course, Corpus needed when college starts, Cost in today's money and Lump sum to invest today.

Formula used

Cost in year t = Today's cost × (1 + Education inflation)^(Years to start + t)

• Corpus at start = present value of the yearly costs at your investment return
• SIP = monthly investment that grows to the corpus (annuity due)

Returns are assumptions; move money to safer assets as college nears.

Worked example

These are the sample values already filled in the calculator above, and the result it returns for them:

Tips for using the College Cost Planner

• Start early – ten years of SIP costs far less than five.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is a tax-free option for a daughter's education.