An Education goal shows whether the savings assigned to one student's education plan are on pace to cover the intended share of future costs. It combines the student's timeline, annual cost, funding percentage, education inflation, assigned accounts, additional contributions, and expected investment return.
Open a client and go to Planning > Goals to create the goal and review its full Plan, Assigned Accounts, and Investments views.
What should I enter before creating an Education goal?
Add the student under Profile > Household and enter the student's birthday. The calculator uses the student's age to determine the time until education begins.
Add any education accounts under Profile > Accounts and confirm their current balances and regular savings. The Education goal will use only the portions assigned to it.
How do I create an Education goal?
Open the client and select Planning > Goals.
Select Add Goal > Education.
Open the new Education goal.
Replace the goal name with a useful name, such as Avery's College.
Add a description when the plan needs context, such as the intended school type or the percentage the family plans to cover.
The goal name, description, assumptions, targets, and assignments save automatically as you change them. There is no separate Save button.
Can I create the Education goal while adding the student?
Yes. When adding a child or adult under Profile > Household, turn on Create education goal before selecting Add Child or Add Adult. Kerdora creates an Education goal linked to that person.
Review the new goal under Planning > Goals to finish its assumptions and account assignments.
Can I set up the goal during Plan Setup?
Yes. Open Plan Setup > Goals, select Add Goal > Education, rename the goal, and select Calculator to enter its assumptions. Plan Setup shows the calculated target balance and target savings but does not include account assignments.
Finish the goal under Planning > Goals so you can assign accounts and review the complete outcome.
How do I set the Education goal assumptions?
Open the Education goal and stay on Plan. Complete the questions in Plan the education goal:
Which student? Select the child or adult whose education is being modeled.
Education start age? Enter the age when the program is expected to begin.
Education end age? Enter the age when the program is expected to end. The difference between the start and end ages determines the number of school years.
Current annual cost of education? Enter tuition, room and board, and fees in today's dollars for one year.
Funding percentage? Enter the share the client intends to fund. Scholarships, loans, the student's contribution, or other sources may cover the remainder.
Education inflation rate? Enter the annual rate used to increase the current annual cost through the education period.
Current education savings? This read-only value comes from the balances assigned to the goal.
Additional contributions. Select Add or Edit to model contributions beyond the regular monthly savings assigned from accounts.
Expected investment return. Enter the annual return used while the student is approaching the education start date.
Kerdora starts a new Education goal with example assumptions, including ages 18 to 22, $40,000 of current annual cost, 100% funding, 4% education inflation, and a 7% investment return. These are starting values, not recommendations. Replace them with assumptions appropriate for the client.
How do I add one-time or recurring education contributions?
Select Add next to Additional contributions.
Under One-time, select Add one-time contribution and enter:
the amount;
whether it is in Today's $ or Future $; and
when the contribution occurs.
Under Recurring, select Add recurring contribution and enter:
the monthly or annual amount;
whether it is in Today's $ or Future $;
when it starts and ends; and
whether the amount increases each year.
Use these rows for contributions beyond the regular monthly savings already assigned from the client's accounts. Select Done when the list is complete. The entries save as they are edited.
How do I read the Education outcome?
The headline shows the percentage of the planned education cost funded by projecting the assigned education balance and the monthly savings actually being contributed today to the student's start age, then paying the modeled school costs from that balance.
The four outcome measures explain the projection:
Projected at start is the estimated education balance when school begins.
Needed at start is the balance required at that point to fund every modeled school year.
Years covered is the number of school years the projection can pay.
Runs dry shows the calendar year when the projected balance is depleted. Fully covered means every modeled school year can be paid.
Select Today's $ to express Projected at start and Needed at start in today's purchasing power. Select Future $ to see the amounts at education start. The funded percentage, Years covered, and Runs dry do not change between these views.
The Education projection chart shows the balance growing toward education start and being used across the school years. Kerdora does not credit investment return after school begins, so the school-year coverage is intentionally conservative.
What do Funding status and Savings target mean?
Funding status compares the balance assigned to the Education goal with the amount that would fully fund the goal today under its current assumptions.
Savings target compares the monthly savings assigned to the goal with the monthly amount the calculator estimates is needed. These are different questions: a client can have a funding shortfall today while still saving at the required monthly pace, or have substantial savings already assigned but insufficient ongoing contributions.
Both target fields are calculated by default. Enter a manual target only when the plan intentionally uses a different amount. Kerdora marks the funding target as an override when it differs from the calculated result. Clear the manual value to return to the calculated target.
How do I assign education accounts?
Open the Education goal from Planning > Goals.
Select Assigned Accounts.
Use the account selector in the Assigned Accounts panel.
Select the 529, UTMA, bank, investment, or other account that funds the goal.
Review the balance and monthly-savings portions assigned from each account.
If an account supports more than one goal, use fixed dollar assignments or assign the remaining amount after other fixed assignments. Balance and monthly-savings assignments are separate, so confirm both. Return to Plan to see the updated outcome.
Select Investments to review allocation and target-portfolio information for eligible investment accounts assigned to the goal.
Do I need a separate Education goal for each student?
Yes. One Education goal models one selected student and one education timeline. Create a separate goal when students, start dates, costs, or funding strategies differ.
Can the client see or edit the Education goal?
The advisor's Goals workspace, calculator, account assignments, Goal Mapping, and Gap Analysis are not client portal pages. A client cannot open or edit the Education goal directly in the portal.
To present the plan, add the appropriate goal content and explanation to a visible Guide. Preview the Guide before delivery so the student, amounts, assumptions, and wording are client-ready.
Why is the Education goal blank or the result unexpected?
Check these items in order:
The student is missing or has an incorrect birthday. Review Profile > Household, then confirm Which student? in the goal.
The education period is invalid. Confirm the end age is later than the start age and that the selected student has time before the start age.
Current education savings is zero or wrong. Open Assigned Accounts and verify the correct balance is assigned to this goal.
Current monthly savings is missing. Confirm the source account has regular savings and that the savings portion is assigned to this goal.
The cost or funding percentage is not client-specific. Review current annual cost, the intended funding percentage, and education inflation.
An additional contribution is double-counted. Do not add a recurring contribution when the same amount is already regular account savings assigned to the goal.
A target differs from the calculator. Check Funding status and Savings target for a manual override.
Today's and Future amounts look different. Confirm the Today's $ / Future $ selection; the basis changes the displayed amounts, not the funded percentage or years covered.