What You Actually Need to Save Monthly for Your Child's Education
By the QuickYield Team · Published September 15, 2026 · 5 min read
A ₹2,00,000 course fee today becomes ₹4,31,785 in 10 years at 8% education inflation. Funding that gap from scratch needs a monthly SIP of just ₹1,972 — assuming an 11% expected return. Wait until 5 years are left instead, and the required monthly SIP jumps to ₹3,662, nearly double, for exactly the same course. Time is the single biggest lever in education planning, more than almost any other input in the calculation.
Why “today’s fee” is the wrong number to plan around
Education costs in India have historically risen faster than general inflation, driven by rising infrastructure, faculty, and facility costs at schools and colleges — which is why planning off today’s fee number, without inflating it forward to the year you’ll actually need it, is one of the most common and costly mistakes in education planning. The gap between today’s fee and the future fee compounds every year you wait, exactly like investment returns do, just working against you instead of for you.
Required monthly SIP, by years remaining
For a ₹2,00,000 current annual fee, at 8% education inflation and an 11% expected return:
| Years remaining | Future cost | Required monthly SIP |
|---|---|---|
| 5 years | ₹2,93,866 | ₹3,662 |
| 10 years | ₹4,31,785 | ₹1,972 |
| 15 years | ₹6,34,434 | ₹1,383 |
| 18 years | ₹7,99,204 | ₹1,175 |
Starting from birth (18 years out) versus starting when your child is already 13 (5 years out) for the same target course cuts your required monthly SIP by more than two-thirds — not because the future cost is smaller (it’s actually much larger, since more years of inflation compound into it), but because you have far more years for your own investment returns to do the heavy lifting instead of your monthly contribution.
Why the inflation assumption matters so much
Bump the inflation assumption from 8% to a more conservative 10% (realistic for premium private schools or international education) on the same 10-year, ₹2,00,000 example, and the future cost rises to ₹5,18,748 — pushing the required monthly SIP from ₹1,972 to ₹2,369, a 20% jump from a 2-percentage-point change in just one assumption. Use a category-appropriate inflation rate (engineering, medical, and international education have each run at different historical rates) rather than a generic figure, and revisit the calculation every couple of years as actual fee trends become clearer.
Enter your own current fee, timeline, inflation and return assumptions, and existing savings into our Education Expense Calculator for your exact required monthly SIP.
Frequently asked questions
›What inflation rate should I use for education planning?
8% is a reasonable general starting point for Indian school and college fees, but premium private schools, professional courses, and international education have often run higher — 10-12% isn’t unusual for those categories specifically.
›Why does starting earlier reduce the required monthly SIP so much?
A longer investment horizon lets compounding returns cover a much larger share of the future cost, so your own monthly contribution needs to fill a smaller gap — even though the future cost itself is higher the longer you wait to need it, since inflation compounds too.
›Should I use a separate calculation for each child?
Yes — run the calculation separately for each child’s expected course, cost, and timeline, then add the required monthly SIPs together for your total combined monthly planning figure.
›What if I already have some savings earmarked for education?
Enter that amount as your existing savings — the calculator grows it forward at your expected return rate and only asks for a monthly SIP to cover the remaining gap, not the full future cost.
Try it yourself
Open the Education Expense Calculator →
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This article is for general information only and isn’t financial, tax, or legal advice. See our disclaimer.