How the college cost calculator works
Why college inflates faster
Higher education costs have grown 5–8% annually for decades — a multiple of general inflation. The drivers are structural (labor-intensive services, amenities competition, subsidized lending feeding demand, state disinvestment at publics). Whatever the cause, planning at CPI systematically underfunds the account — the inflation input defaults to education's own history, not the economy's.
Public vs private, honestly framed
The sticker gap (in-state ~$29k all-in vs private ~$65k) is real but negotiable: private colleges discount heavily (net prices often land near flagship-public levels for middle-income families), while publics are price-transparent. The planning move: project the sticker of your realistic option, then treat merit/need aid as upside rather than assuming it.
The 4-year total is the target
Annual figures mislead in both directions — the first year is the cheapest year, and most students now take 4+ years. The total (with the same inflation applied across the college years) is what the 529 must fund, what loans must cover, or what the split between them must add to.