The spreadsheets that accompany JK Lasser Pro: New Rules for College Funding are time sensitive. In order to assure that your college savings calculations are accurate, you should update the spreadsheets each year. Updates to the files will be available according to the following schedule:

- The Financial Aid Test™: updated every February
- The College Funding Integrator™: updated every August
- The College Savings Calculator™: updated every August

You can purchase these updates below.

The College Funding Integrator™ helps parents to quantify their college funding obligation for their entire family by:

• Projecting future college costs for each student,
• Projecting total family college costs
• Planning a funding package consisting of:
• Fixed or increasing savings
• A “pay as you go” component during college
• A parent borrowing and repayment plan

• College types to adjust costs
• Savings and “pay as you go” commitments
• Pre and post-funding time periods

The College Savings Calculator™ is the first tool to use when designing a long-term college savings plan. It allows parents to get a feel for future college costs in five general cost categories (state, state non-resident, medium, high, ivy league) and to project the monthly savings required to meet these costs. The magnitude of these costs will spur a serious parent to take action. Armed with this information a parent can begin to plan:

• The college cost class he is willing to pre-fund,
• Whether or not to cost share with his student

When setting up a long-term college-funding plan, we really can’t accurately predict future financial aid. However, we can guess at the likelihood of future financial aid and build in flexibility. The Financial Aid Test™ is the tool to use. Any good savings plan will balance the benefits of:

• Financial aid
• Tax Savings
• Control of Money

The The Financial Aid Test™ should be used for initial target planning and then used periodically to enhance plan features as college gets closer and financial aid gets more predictable.