I asked ChatGPT to calculate monthly savings to build education fund for my children's higher studies in Delhi

Saving for children's higher education: I asked ChatGPT to calculate the required monthly savings to build an education corpus for my children's higher studies at medical and engineering colleges in the national capital Delhi.

The ChatGPT prompt:

I am a 36-year-old parent of two children, earning ₹10 lakh per annum working for a public bank and living in Guwahati. I want to save enough for my children (3 and 5 years) to move to Delhi for college. I invest in NPS and PPF for retirement full tax-free amount and own my house in Guwahati.

Calculate my required month savings for my children's education goal based on living expenses (hostel, food, travel), rent, inflation, course fees at a top 10 college (for safety consider it medicine or engineering), coaching fees, miscellaneous (books, laptop, etc.), and emergency buffer.

Here's what ChatGPT said:

You are already doing two very important things correctly:

• You own your house in Guwahati (huge reduction in retirement pressure).
• You are fully funding NPS + PPF for retirement.

So, your children’s education corpus can be treated as a separate goal without compromising retirement. I’ll calculate this conservatively for two children currently aged 5 and 3, moving from Guwahati to Delhi for higher education, and assuming a top engineering or medical pathway. This will include coaching, college fees, hostel/rent, food, laptop/books, travel, inflation, emergency reserve.

I’ll use a “safety-first” middle-to-high estimate rather than optimistic assumptions.

1. Time Available

• Older child — age 5 — college starts in 13 years
• Younger child — age 3 — college starts in 15 years

2. Current Cost Estimates (2026 values)

• Coaching Cost (Classes 9–12 + entrance prep) — For JEE/NEET coaching in a serious setup: Tuition/coaching: ₹2–4 lakh total; Test series/material/travel: ₹1 lakh; Device + miscellaneous: ₹1 lakh. Conservative planning: ₹6 lakh per child.

• Engineering Cost (Top IIT / Top private) — Top IIT total annual cost including hostel/mess is now commonly around ₹2.5–3.5 lakh yearly. Conservative estimate: ₹4 lakh/year × 4 years, total: ₹16 lakh per child.
• Medical Cost (Safe planning assumption) — Government medical colleges are cheap, but private/deemed colleges can cost ₹50 lakh– ₹1.5 crore total. Since you specifically said, “for safety consider medicine or engineering,” we should not assume AIIMS-level success. A realistic “safe” planning figure: Tuition + hostel + mess + instruments + misc is ₹60 lakh per child in today’s money. This assumes decent private medical college, not ultra-premium ₹1.5 crore colleges.
• Delhi Living Cost (outside college) even with hostel: food/snacks, travel, local transport, medical, phone/internet, occasional rent deposits, internships, flights/train to Guwahati. Moderate Delhi student living costs today: ₹20k–30k/month. Assume ₹25k/month for 5 years medicine / 4 years engineering average, and conservative estimate of ₹15 lakh per child.

• Laptop, books, emergencies per child will include laptop upgrades, coaching devices, exam forms, emergencies, inflation shocks: ₹5 lakh per child

3. Total Goal in Today’s Money per child

Round safely: ₹90 lakh per child; for two children: ₹1.8 crore

4. Inflation adjustment and future required corpus

Education inflation in India runs much higher than normal inflation: While general inflation is ~6%, education inflation is ~9–11%. Let’s use 10% education inflation to calculate future required corpus

• Older child (13 years away) — Future value of ₹90 lakh at 10% inflation = ₹3.1 crore
• Younger child (15 years away) — Future value = ₹3.8 crore

Total Future Education Corpus Needed

Round up for safety for required target corpus is ₹7 crore.

5. Monthly SIP Required

Assuming investment return: 12% CAGR (equity mutual funds), for horizon staggered over 13–15 years to build ~ ₹7 crore, the required monthly investment is ₹1.1–1.3 lakh per month.

That is the mathematically correct “fully safe” number if you want for zero education loan risk, private medical college backup, Delhi living inflation protection and emergency margin.

6. Reality Check Based on Your Income

Your salary is ₹10 LPA and likely ₹70k–75k monthly in hand after deductions, so ₹1.2 lakh/month is not feasible currently. Therefore, you need a practical strategy.

The most realistic and practical strategy is instead of planning for two private medical seats simultaneously, plan for: one premium-case scenario, one normal-case scenario, partial education loans if needed.

Recommended realistic target for engineering/government medicine likely or private medicine only partially funded: ₹2.5–3.5 crore total future value to achieve this in 13–15 years at 12% returns the required SIP is ₹40k–60k per month.

7. Suggested Allocation

Since retirement is already being handled through NPS + PPF, education investing can be split:

• Increase SIP 10% every year with increments/DA revisions. If you do that, your corpus can realistically become ₹4–6 crore by the time both children enter college.
• Because you own your house, work in a public bank, have pension-oriented retirement investments, you are in a stronger position than many private-sector families earning more. Your biggest risk is underestimating education inflation. While your biggest advantage is the long runway (13–15 years).
• Most middle-class Indian families eventually combine corpus, scholarships, education loans, child merit and salary growth rather than self-funding ₹7 crore entirely.

Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations made above are not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.