Enter a birthday and a school-entry cutoff to find the expected kindergarten start, high-school graduation year and college graduation year.
Most US states use 1 September; some use 1 January or 31 December. Pick your state or district's cutoff.
expected high-school graduation (spring)
How to use this tool
Type the full date of birth. The calculator works out the year the child turns five, which decides the school cohort.
Pick the cutoff month and day your state or district uses — 1 September in most US states. A child must turn five on or before the cutoff to start kindergarten that autumn.
Kindergarten plus grades 1–12 means graduation in the spring 13 years after the kindergarten autumn. The result also gives the age at graduation and the expected college graduation year.
Set the reference school year under Advanced options to see which grade the child is in during that year.
Formula & worked example
Worked example: born 15 June 2015, with a 1 September cutoff. The child turns five in June 2020, before the 1 September cutoff, so kindergarten starts in autumn 2020. Graduation is in spring 2020 + 13 = 2033, at age 18 (birthday in June, before the spring graduation). A four-year college degree would finish in spring 2037.
Limitations — read this before you rely on it
This is the standard no-skipping, no-repeating path for a US-style K–12 system. It does not account for redshirting (delayed entry), grade skipping or repeating, early graduation, or school systems with different structures (for example, different grade counts or southern-hemisphere school years). Always confirm with the local district's actual cutoff and enrolment rules.
Frequently asked questions
Take the autumn you started kindergarten and add 13: kindergarten plus grades 1–12 ends with graduation the following spring. This calculator works that out from your birthday and your area's cutoff date.
A child must turn five on or before the cutoff to start that autumn. A child born just after the cutoff waits a year, so they start kindergarten a year later and graduate a year later — a one-day birthday difference can move graduation by a full year.
You turn five after the cutoff, so you start kindergarten the next autumn. For example, born 15 October 2015 with a 1 September cutoff: kindergarten starts autumn 2021 and graduation is spring 2034.
Only where schooling follows the same pattern: one kindergarten year followed by 12 grades. Many countries differ (for example, the UK's year groups or Australia's January-start year), so check the local system before relying on the year.
A standard four-year degree finishes four springs after high-school graduation. Two-year, five-year and gap-year paths shift that by the relevant number of years.