How Much Can I REALLY Save Per Month?

I've decided that even though my potential graduate education will likely cost me $150k+, I'm going to focus on saving $100k and take out loans for the additional $50k. That will be more reasonable to pay back AFTER grad school, even though the interest will cost me. I may be able to convince my parents to let me borrow from them, that extra $50k, which I will pay back.

My question is, how long would it REALLY take me to save $100k? That's a lot of mula.

Or, I guess my real question is, how much can I save before applying to school for fall 2012. That's two years away.

I'll say I have 24 months to save. At $2000 / month that's only $48,000. Sheesh.

I think, if I went totally frugal, I might be able to sock away $2k / month. But what's the point when it wouldn't even cover one year of grad school?

Current Income: $3418 / month + $100 medical + approx $350 post-tax in freelance income (which is my "fun" spend)
= $3868 / month (income)

Currently that goes to...
(scroll down for budget table, something is wonky with my HTML causing a huge gap below but I don't know what. Brownie points if you can tell me why there's a huge white gap here.)

item	cost	type	total	remainder	12mnth savings	5 year savings at 5% interest
Rent	$635	fixed	$635	$3233
Home Bills	$50	fixed	$685	$3183
Cell Phone	$55	fixed	$740	$3128
Car Insurance	$80	fixed	$820	$3048
Laser Hair Removal Loan	$250	fixed	$1070	$2798
Food	$300	fixed	$1370	$2498
Gas	$100	fixed	$1470	$2398
Gym	$35	fixed	$1505	$2363
Dance Class	$60	?	$1565	$2303	$27,636	$195,613
Voice Lessons (2x)	$190	?	$1755	$2112	$25,344	$179,389
Group Therapy (4x)	$250	?	$2005	$1863	$22,356	$158,240
Career Counseling (2x)	$200	?	$2205	$1763	$21,156	$149,746
Class at Community College	$50	?	$2255	$1613	$19,356	$137,005
Clothes & Beauty	$300	?	$2355	$1313	$15,756	$111,524
Travel	$100	?	$2355	$1213	$14,556	$103,030
Medical & Dental	$200	medical	$2555	$1013	$12,156	$86,043
Retirement	$400	savings	$2955	$1013	$12,156	$86,043
Stocks & ETF	$300	savings	$3155	$1013	$12,156	$86,043
529 Plan	$100	savings	$3255	$1013	$12,156	$86,043

So basically, if I keep saving the way I'm saving now, in five years, when I'm 31, I'll have an additional $86k in savings (assuming 5% growth rate, not sure that's fair to assume over 5 years).

With my current 30k savings added to just $12,156 / year at 5% growth I will have:

$108,817 (5 years savings)

If I could save the most possible (getting rid of all non-fixed spending) I could hypothetically save $198,630 in 5 years.

This is assuming my job and income stays the same, which is unlikely. I will likely be unemployed or see a decrease in salary over those five years. There is also a chance I may see an increase in salary.

However, if I see a large increase in salary, the value of going to graduate school, from a financial standpoint, becomes less appealing. If I get to the point where I'm a billionaire (yea, right) I'd go back to school in a second, because then cost wouldn't be prohibitive.

Well, at this this has proven that if I keep saving like I am saving, in 5 years I can afford to go to grad school, take out only about $50k in loans, and leave grad school only $50k indebted with no emergency funds. Uhhh... do I really want that?