tuition-path

# Tuition Path

Sticker is a brochure. Net is the working number. Count the years, add living costs, then sketch a monthly path — not a product.

Inspired by dmauser/money-desk college-cost-projection and savings-account-selector (MIT). Original Grok remake. Country-neutral. Complements cash-plan (the monthly surplus that funds this path), cash-buffer (emergency cash first), invest-map (long core after the buffer), nest-math (retirement, not tuition), roof-math (housing), debt-order (payoff sequence, including student loans after enrollment). Not a 529 sale.

Read `references/rails.md` before you write numbers. Fill the three templates under `templates/`.

## When to use

- College cost, tuition planning, how much to save for school
- Sticker vs net price, cost of attendance, years of school
- 529 basics as a *category* note (not which plan to buy)
- A dated education savings path with a monthly sketch
- They already have (or will get) a surplus from cash-plan and a buffer from cash-buffer, and now want the school worksheet

## When NOT to use

- This month's budget, 50/30/20, where the surplus comes from → use cash-plan first
- Emergency cash, months of essentials, where to park the rainy-day pile → use cash-buffer first
- First portfolio, DCA, index allocation after the buffer → use invest-map
- Retirement nest / 4% / FIRE → use nest-math (do not raid the nest as the default tuition plan)
- Rent vs buy / mortgage → use roof-math
- Avalanche / snowball of named debts, including student-loan payoff order after bills start → use debt-order
- Brokerage, bank, Plaid, or lender APIs; account logins; SSNs; account numbers
- Product sales: which 529, which fund, which bank, which "best" plan
- Inventing scholarships, grants, or aid as fact
- Quoting a lender rate as advice

## Inputs

- Country / currency context (keep account types generic if unknown)
- Who is the student, and years until the first term (or "already enrolled")
- School list if they have one; otherwise a band (local public / regional / private / unknown)
- Sticker (published cost of attendance) if they have it, else "unknown"
- Net price if they have a school calculator output or an offer letter; else "unknown — do not invent aid"
- Years they intend to fund (2 / 3 / 4 / 5–6). Extra years for some programs are a real cost
- Living costs besides tuition: housing, food, books, transport, personal, required cover
- Current money already earmarked for this student (or "none / unknown")
- cash-plan surplus that can fund this path (or $0)
- Whether cash-buffer starter exists
- Share they intend the household to fund vs student work / later borrowing (their words, not a slogan)

## Procedure

1. Read `references/rails.md`. Refuse brokerage / bank / lender APIs, SSNs, account numbers, return promises, product sales, and fake scholarships.
2. Gate the pyramid. cash-plan owns the surplus. cash-buffer owns emergency cash first. If surplus is $0, send to cash-plan. If there is no starter buffer, send to cash-buffer before growing a school sleeve. Do not starve rent or the rainy-day pile to fill a tuition worksheet.
3. Split sticker from net. Fill `templates/cost-card.md`. Sticker is published cost of attendance. Net is sticker minus gift aid they actually have evidence for (offer letter, school net-price tool they ran). Living costs sit on the card even when tuition is "free." Years of attendance multiply the annual working number. Label every dollar a sketch.
4. Sketch the save path. Fill `templates/save-path.md`. Gap = funded years × annual working number − current earmarked savings. Starter monthly: an amount they can automate from surplus even if it does not close the gap. Full monthly: gap ÷ months until first term as a *zero-growth* sketch; optional growth line only if they name an assumption, labeled, never promised. Account-type NOTES only: dedicated education vehicle (529 is a US *category* example), taxable dedicated sleeve, custodial gift, retirement-as-backup. Do not pick a product.
5. Write the review. Fill `templates/review-card.md`. List assumptions. Name what changes the number. Set a revisit date. Point retirement raids to nest-math, extra investing to invest-map, loan payoff order to debt-order, housing during school to roof-math if they ask rent vs buy.
6. Closing line every time: education worksheet; not personalized financial advice.

## Output format

- Cost card (sticker vs net, years, living costs, funded share)
- Save-path card (monthly sketch, starter vs full, account-type NOTES not product picks)
- Review card (assumptions, what changes the number, when to revisit)
- One line: education worksheet; not personalized financial advice

## Safety

- Follow `references/rails.md` with no exceptions.
- Education only. Not personalized financial, legal, or tax advice. Confirm locally.
- No brokerage / bank / lender APIs, no SSNs, no account numbers.
- No return promises. Label every dollar and every month a sketch.
- 529 is a category note, not a sales pitch and not a branded plan pick.
- Country-neutral: no US-only product as mandatory; no Indonesia-only product as mandatory.
- Do not invent scholarships, grants, or aid.
- Crisis / self-harm about money: stop; in the US, 988.

## Stop conditions

- Three templates delivered, or refused because cash-plan owns the surplus first, cash-buffer owns emergency cash first, they asked for brokerage / bank / lender APIs, account numbers, a product pick, a guaranteed-return pitch, or invented aid presented as fact