Early Look at College Net Price Calculators Finds Mixed Results
By the end of October, colleges must create online calculators to help prospective students judge college costs. The price of tuition doesn’t tell students everything they need to know about cost. Students are also responsible for fees, books, food and housing, and transportation costs. Also, some high-tuition schools offer generous grants and scholarships.
The new “net price calculators” can help students understand which schools they can afford. A report by the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) casts light on how these soon-to-be-required calculators can best help students and families.
In its review, TICAS found that the calculators were mixed. Some were easy to find, use and understand, but others were difficult to locate, required detailed information from users’ financial records, and presented confusing results.
Several calculators subtracted expected student loans from the net price, potentially minimizing the fact that student loans are part of the net price shouldered by students and families.
The findings are detailed in a spiffy new report, Adding It All Up: An Early Look at Net Price Calculators, which includes examples of actual calculators.
Thanks go to TICAS for its great research and the Project on Student Debt and IBRInfo.org.
