Years Until Student Begins College	School Year Fall	Projected 4 Year Total Cost (Public)	Projected 4 Year Total Cost (Private)	Monthly Savings (Public)	Monthly Savings (Private)
1	1998	$45,569	$96,957	$3,636	$7,736
2	1999	47,847	101,805	1,833	3,900
3	2000	50,239	106,895	1,231	2,620
4	2001	52,751	112,240	930	1,979
5	2002	55,389	117,852	749	1,593
6	2003	58,158	123,745	628	1,336
7	2004	61,066	129,932	541	1,151
8	2005	64,120	136,428	476	1,012
9	2006	67,326	143,250	425	904
10	2007	70,692	150,412	384	817
11	2008	74,226	157,933	350	745
12	2009	77,938	165,830	322	685
13	2010	81,835	174,121	298	634
14	2011	85,296	182,827	277	590
15	2012	90,223	191,968	259	551
16	2013	94,734	201,567	243	517
17	2014	99,470	211,645	229	487
18	2015	104,444	222,228	216	487
19	2016	109,666	233,339	205	435
20	2017	115,150	245,006	194	413

With the cost of a college education so high many families ask themselves: Is it worth all the expense? We think the following chart clearly answers that question.

Potential Earnings of a College Graduate

The Potential Earnings of a College Graduate:	Annual Family Income	Total Earnings at Age 65
College Graduate	$67,300	$2,692,000
High School Graduate	$37,100	$1,484,000
Elementary School Only	$20,500	$820,000

College cost are rising every year. On the average, colleges cost nearly twice as much as they did ten years ago. This makes it imperative to put together a realistic financial plan for meeting educational costs, regardless of when those costs will occur.

Planning allows families to maximize their own resources and find the extra outside help in various forms of financial aid. The earlier parents start to accumulate funds for their children's education, the better prepared they will be to address the sky rocketing cost of college; as well as reduce the burden that a student will have to earn or borrow while enrolled or repay after completing college.

Remember, families must set realistic goals. They first need to determine how much college is likely to cost when their child enrolls and then determine what return they can reasonably expect on their cash accumulations.

Early Financial Planning

College Cost
Financial Calculators

The importance of saving to meet college costs can’t be overemphasized. The following suggestions can help students and parents develop a long-term financial plan.

Parents might suggest that a student put aside a portion of any money received as gifts over the years as well as part of earnings from part-time work.

However, an important point should be made here. Parents should not put their own savings in the student’s account. This is because a maximum of 6 percent of a parents savings will be included in the family contribution. But 35 percent of the student’s assets and savings are considered available for each academic year.

Parents who put their own savings in a child’s account because it may offer tax advantages, later find that it reduces the student's eligibility for financial aid.

Policies and procedures change. There is no guarantee that the methods used today to determine eligibility for assistance will be used when your family applies. Also keep in mind that financial aid officers at any college have some discretion. Be sure to bring any special circumstances to their attention. However, note that there is no allowance made for consumer debt. Unfortunately, in today’s society, having considerable debt is not unusual. But it won’t be taken into account in determining a family's contribution.

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