Did you know that colleges with higher sticker prices sometimes offer more financial aid? Or that colleges differ in the types of aid they offer? Below are a few tips that will help you estimate the real amount you’ll have to pay to attend the colleges you’re considering.
You can search for colleges by average net price and by the average percent of financial need colleges meet.
Focus on Net Price
Your net price for a college is the published price for tuition and fees minus your gift aid and education tax benefits. Gift aid includes grants and scholarships but not loans or money earned through a work-study job. Getting your estimated net price is the best way to get an early answer to the question of how much a college will really cost you. Learn more about net price.
Cost Figures to Know for Your College Search
Your personalized estimated net price is the best indicator of what a particular college will cost you. But if you’re just beginning your college search, the types of figures listed below can help you decide if you want to get more information on a college or use its net price calculator.
Average Net Price
The average net price of a college is what the student really pays to go to that college. The U.S. Department of Education defines average net price as the cost of attending a college (for an in-state student who lives on campus) minus the average amount of gift aid that a student at that school receives from the college and the government.
A college you’re interested in might have a published price of $23,410. But its average net price might be only $17,300 — which includes room and board and other costs. That’s a big difference.
Average Percent of Need Met
Most colleges are not able to cover 100 percent of a student’s demonstrated financial need. You can get an idea of how much aid a college might award you and your family by checking to see what it has typically awarded other students in the past.
For example, if your family has demonstrated need of $10,000, and the college you are interested in has an average percent of need met of 75 percent, then your financial aid award (for one academic year) from this college might be about $7,500..
Average Percent of Gift Aid
Different colleges have different ways of awarding their financial aid packages. The final award is generally divided into a combination of scholarships and grants, work-study jobs and loans. Only scholarships and grants are considered gift aid..
If a college awards you a financial aid package of $7,500, and the average percent of gift aid is 50 percent, then you can expect your award to include approximately $3,750 in grants and scholarships. The rest of the award would likely be a combination of loans and work-study earnings...
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