[Today’s post is educational and offers no guarantee of future education and college costs, just educated estimates. The full website disclosure statement can be found here.]
Is higher education in your (or a loved one’s) future?
Ah, college. From creative breakthroughs to a better appreciation of the world and its inhabitants, the memories it holds will last my lifetime. However, the world is changing.
While I cherish my years of higher education in university, I recognize that this tradition may fade as the need for trade skills makes a resurgence. (And rightfully so, not everyone needs a four-year degree!)
However, as the landscape for education evolves, one thing remains constant: costs for all types of higher education are on the rise.
After all, the cost of traditional college tuition has risen on average by ~40% over the past decade!
So, if you have found this post searching for the future cost of college for yourself (or your dependents), then you have come to the right place. Through the remainder of this post, I will explain how you can determine the approximate future cost of higher education, plus its associated expenses, such as room and board.
Determining tuition and additional costs
The annual cost of attending a higher education program is known as tuition, and it fluctuates wildly from public to private and from two-year to four-year institutions. I have included a dataset with national tuition averages for various programs in the table below. However, if you have a particular institution in mind, please visit their website to determine the cost of attending it each year (we will use it later in this post).
Current Costs
| Costs | In-State | Out-Of-State | Private | Associates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly Tuition | $9,580 | $27,437 | $37,200 | $3,372 |
| Yearly Total Cost | $25,864 | $43,721 | $53,949 | $16,037 |
In-state refers to a traditional 4-year in-state public college (Bachelors degree)
Out-of-state refers to a traditional 4-year out-of-state public college (Bachelors degree)
Private refers to a traditional 4-year private college (Bachelors degree)
Associates (degree) refers to a 2-year public college/trade school
Yearly Total Cost includes tuition, fees, and room-and-board
Based on tuition alone, you can see that public 2-year associate degrees cost $6,744 to obtain, or 82% less than their 4-year public brethren. Furthermore, those attending public in-state 4-year programs will spend 74% less than if they had participated in private 4-year programs.
Whether the expenses for each degree type are worthwhile is another matter. I will leave that up to you, the reader, to decide. I want to empower you to understand the total costs involved while not favoring one type of degree more than another.
But college is still __ years away! How can I determine the future cost?
I’m glad you asked. Using mathematics, we can take the average inflation cost of 2 and 4-year degrees and extrapolate them out to a given year in the future, which I have done in the table below (which starts for the 2021/2022 academic calendar year):
Future Yearly Tuition Cost
| Years Away | In-State | Out-Of-State | Private | Associates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | $9,580 | $27,437 | $37,200 | $3,372 |
| 2 | $10,302 | $29,505 | $40,468 | $3,682 |
| 4 | $11,079 | $31,729 | $44,023 | $4,021 |
| 6 | $11,914 | $34,120 | $47,890 | $4,391 |
| 8 | $12,811 | $36,692 | $52,098 | $4,795 |
| 10 | $13,777 | $39,457 | $56,674 | $4,237 |
| 12 | $14,815 | $45,629 | $61,653 | $5,719 |
| 14 | $15,932 | $49,068 | $67,069 | $6,245 |
| 16 | $17,133 | $49,068 | $72,961 | $6,819 |
| 18 | $18,424 | $52,766 | $79,371 | $7,447 |
| 20 | $19,812 | $56,743 | $86,343 | $8,132 |
And voila! You now have an approximate idea of future tuition costs. To estimate the total tuition cost for a degree, multiply by the number of years you will attend college by the yearly tuition figure above. (For example, multiple by two or four years of tuition.)
Future Yearly Total Cost
| Years Away | In-State | Out-Of-State | Private | Associates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | $25,864 | $43,821 | $53,949 | $16,037 |
| 2 | $27,620 | $47,016 | $58,351 | $17,412 |
| 4 | $29,701 | $50,560 | $63,113 | $18,906 |
| 6 | $31,940 | $54,370 | $68,263 | $20,527 |
| 8 | $34,347 | $58,468 | $73,833 | $22,288 |
| 10 | $36,936 | $62,875 | $79,858 | $24,199 |
| 12 | $39,720 | $67,614 | $86,374 | $26,275 |
| 14 | $42,714 | $72,710 | $93,422 | $28,528 |
| 16 | $45,933 | $78,190 | $101,045 | $30,975 |
| 18 | $49,395 | $84,083 | $109,291 | $33,631 |
| 20 | $53,118 | $90,420 | $118,209 | $36,516 |
With this additional table, you can now estimate the total yearly future cost of attending college. To calculate the total cost for a degree, multiply by the number of years you will attend college by the annual cost figure above.
Important Note On Data In Both Tables: The current tuition and total costs data come from the Education Data Initiative. Furthermore, the data used to generate the inflation rates comes from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The dataset from NCES covers the school year decade beginning in 2009/10 through 2018/19 and includes the cost of tuition, fees, and room-and-board. Despite being three years old, I used the NCES dataset for congruency since it provides costs across all institution types and degree-year durations. However, room-and-board data are estimates, for which the inflation rate they utilized is not explained. Nevertheless, I used their increases for total costs to create my Total Future Costs Table for consistency. Finally, out-of-state data is not included, so I assumed the same inflation rate as in-state.
I want to get more specific! What is the equation used?
Great! Then you will need to know your desired institution’s tuition cost. Once ascertained, you will need to determine the institution’s historical inflation rate by averaging its change in tuition over a given number of years – for example, $10,000 current minus $5,000 historical, divided by 15 years between prices.
If you cannot determine the applicable average inflation rate for your institution, use one of the averages above or go to this dataset and calculate the average tuition increase for your State over the past ten years. Next, you will use the following formula:
Future Total Tuition Cost/Price Equation:
Next, you will need to estimate the additional yearly costs to attend college in your area. If you plan to live in the dormitories, use the current expense figure. If you plan to live off-campus, use the rent figure likely to be incurred in your area. (Remember, most college students have roommates to bring down rental costs).
If the dorms at your desired institution include a meal plan with rent, that is great. If not, or if you plan to live off-campus, factor in the cost of food during the college year in your additional costs figure.
The resulting sum of your rent and food, plus any amount allocated for textbook and technology costs, will be your yearly sum for additional costs. (I would allocate at least $1,000/year towards books alone, as the average cost in 2018/19 was nearly $1,440. However, you can buy used books to reduce costs dramatically.)
Future Total Additional Costs Equation:
Woohoo, you now have your future total tuition and additional costs! Now, all that is left is to add these two sums together, and voila! You have the future total estimated cost of attending college.
Total Future Costs Equations:
Future Total Tuition Cost + Future Total Additional Costs = Total Future Cost
Final thoughts
You now have the tools needed to estimate the future cost of college for yourself or a loved one, and I hope that you have found this post informative. If you are wondering how to save for future college costs, 529 Plans can be a great way to save and you can read more about them here.
Furthermore, if you wish to play around with various estimated figures, I have included an interactive Excel Spreadsheet that can be downloaded here:
So, what do you think the future of higher education holds? Do you think tuition will continue to rise dramatically, or do you think the government will intervene?
Furthermore, do you believe that the future of higher education will continue to trend away from the traditional 4-year degree?
Regardless of your thoughts, I would love to hear them in the comments below. As always, have a great day!
FAQs:
How much money will college cost in 18 years?
According to the calculations I have done, college could cost between $212,472 and $345,372 in 18 years. I encourage you to use my interactive spreadsheet to do a more detailed calculation based on the institution you desire to go to in the future.
How much do I need to save for college at 18?
If you start investing $350 a month when you child is born, you could have $212,472 saved after 18 years, which is how much my calculations assume an in-state, public 4-year degree will cost then.
What are the basic costs of college?
The current estimated yearly cost for instate public tuition is $9,580, but when considering the total cost rises to $25,864.
Is it expensive to go to college?
Yes, a traditional four year college degree can be expensive. However, there are ways to lower the cost by starting at a community college and then transferring to a university after two years. Other ways to save on costs include living with family or friends to save on room and board.
Mile High Finance Guy
finance demystified, one mountain at a time
Hmm hard to predict future costs of tuition because there’s so many factors to it. On the one hand, inflation is something that’s constant over time and so prices could increase. On the other hand, technology is advancing such that many skills (coding, etc) don’t require a college degree to get competent in. That is: technology makes the demand for paying for an education go lower over time.
So it might end up something like certain trades that require a college degree (doctors, lawyers, etc) will skyrocket in price but other trades will plummet in pricing.
Or it could all skyrocket due to lower overall demand. Or it could plummet due to some combination of government subsidy and people realizing there’s lower demand and so there’s less people becoming teachers.
Angie
That is a fair point! Still, if one wants to save for college, the must start somewhere. However, it is anyones guess what the true cost will be in 18 years time.