Cost Profiles¶
A CostProfile defines the base annual cost and annual cost growth rate for a college education.
Built-in profiles¶
Three factory functions create common cost profiles:
| Function | Base cost | Annual growth |
|---|---|---|
make_private_school_profile() |
$65,000 | 5.0% |
make_public_instate_profile() |
$28,000 | 4.0% |
make_public_oos_profile() |
$45,000 | 4.5% |
from collegeplan import make_private_school_profile, make_public_instate_profile
private = make_private_school_profile()
public = make_public_instate_profile()
Custom profiles¶
Create a CostProfile directly for any institution:
from collegeplan import CostProfile
community_college = CostProfile(
annual_cost=12_000,
annual_cost_growth=0.03,
)
How costs are projected¶
The engine grows the base annual cost by the annual_cost_growth rate each year from the child's current age to each year of attendance. For example, if a 5-year-old has a profile with $28,000 base cost and 4% growth, the cost at age 18 (13 years later) is:
Total projected cost is the sum across all attendance years.