I am contributing $2000 per year to my daughter’s ESA. $2000 is the annual contribution limit for an Education Savings Account. My daughter is seven years in old and in the first grade. The chart below gives an idea of how much money I will have saved by the year 2018, when she begins to go to college. After creating this chart, I realized these things:

I will probably NOT be able to save enough money to pay for all of her education.

Whenever my daughter goes to school, she will have to work a part-time job to help with college education expenses.

I have a three year old son, and I need to start saving for him NOW, and I do not need to wait until he starts kindergarten.

If my financial situation improves in the next 12 years (and I have every reason to believe that it will) I may save for my daughter’s education using another type of savings account.

Hopefully, the annual contribution limits associated with an ESA account will be raised in the next few years.

It’s very, very weird to think about my seven year old daughter going to college. But, like everything in our futures, we must think about things BEFORE we have to pay for them.

Contribution Year 5.00% 7.00% 9.00% 11.00%
$2,000.00 2006 $2,100.00 $2,140.00 $2,180.00 $2,220.00
$2,000.00 2007 $4,305.00 $4,429.80 $4,556.20 $4,684.20
$2,000.00 2008 $6,620.25 $6,879.89 $7,146.26 $7,419.46
$2,000.00 2009 $9,051.26 $9,501.48 $9,969.42 $10,455.60
$2,000.00 2010 $11,603.83 $12,306.58 $13,046.67 $13,825.72
$2,000.00 2011 $14,284.02 $15,308.04 $16,400.87 $17,566.55
$2,000.00 2012 $17,098.22 $18,519.61 $20,056.95 $21,718.87
$2,000.00 2013 $20,053.13 $21,955.98 $24,042.07 $26,327.94
$2,000.00 2014 $23,155.79 $25,632.90 $28,385.86 $31,444.02
$2,000.00 2015 $26,413.57 $29,567.20 $33,120.59 $37,122.86
$2,000.00 2016 $29,834.25 $33,776.90 $38,281.44 $43,426.37
$2,000.00 2017 $33,425.97 $38,281.29 $43,906.77 $50,423.28
$2,000.00 2018 $37,197.26 $43,100.98 $50,038.38 $58,189.84