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The cost of college should always be part of the equation in choosing one. After you narrow down your college choices by major, career services and where and how you learn best, use the net price calculators on college websites to get an idea of which colleges are affordable for your family.

What Is a Net Price Calculator?

A college net price calculator is an online tool the federal government requires of all schools that offer federal aid, including student loans, grants and work-study. It asks students to input financial, family, location and income information to estimate potential financial aid awards. Generally, the financial aid estimate is based on past year awards for a student in a similar situation. Remember, though, that in order to be eligible for financial aid, you’ll need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Net Price vs. Sticker Price

The net price of a college is what you actually pay. The sticker price is what the price would be if you got zero financial aid. Say a school’s estimated cost of attendance including tuition, fees, books, room and board and other expenses is listed on its website at $60,000 per year. You receive $20,000 in scholarships and grants. Your net price is $40,000. Sometimes, schools also will subtract student loan amounts. Add them back. When you compare schools, you want to compare by the amount that you will pay in total, including what you borrow and pay back.

The sticker price analogy comes from when you are buying a car. There’s a sticker in the window that tells you the price is X dollars. Then, you may get rebates and negotiate the price lower. The actual price you pay—the net price—could be hundreds to thousands of dollars lower.

Where to Find a School’s Net Price Calculator

You can find a school’s net price calculator in two places: on the financial aid page of the school’s website and on the Net Price Calculator Center website for the U.S. Department of Education. The Net Price Calculator Center allows you to search for nearly any school with a net price calculator, and you’ll be redirected to the school or other appropriate website. For instance, when you select the University of North Texas, you’ll be redirected to a website to input your information for up to three Texas schools at once.

How to Use a College Net Price Calculator

Go to the school website and follow instructions for what you need to input. You can use approximate income, as nothing you input is saved data the school would use to make decisions. However, it is more accurate if you have financial information nearby such as a recent tax return, as well as bank and investment account statements. Financial statements are useful when questions about assets are asked.

You’ll likely also input grades, test scores, what kind of housing you’ll stay in and how many people are in your household. The calculator may ask a dozen or so questions.

Note: Tax returns may help with estimating financial aid awards you may receive based on the financial data you report to the school via the FAFSA or CSS Profile. However, if your family’s income dropped this year, you may have a chance to submit a special circumstances form. This supplemental form is for reporting changes in financial circumstances to school financial aid offices. When you use net price calculators, input your financial data based on this year’s income if there has been a significant income drop.

Create a List of the Net Calculator Results for Top School Choices

List your top school choices and the approximate net cost on a piece of paper, a spreadsheet or a document. Take notes if you answered questions differently on one calculator versus another. For instance, you might have chosen living with parents at one school and off campus at another.

Net Price Calculator Advantages

While net price calculators are a great place to start, they are just a jumping-off point for comparing the price of colleges. You’ll want to find out more from the school by asking detailed financial aid questions.

Nevertheless, they are useful. Here are the most important advantages of using a net price calculator:

  • It’s an easy way to start comparing schools by cost. You could get an estimate for 10 schools within an hour or so.
  • It takes less than five minutes to get an estimated cost of attendance for a college.
  • You can play with numbers and see if retaking an SAT or ACT test and bumping up your score might increase your financial aid award.
  • You may be inspired to apply to private colleges that offer a lot of financial aid that you previously thought were out of reach. Private schools often have more endowment money. Also, those who can afford it may pay more in tuition and fees, freeing the school up to give more money to students who can’t afford tuition.

Net Price Calculator Disadvantages

A net price calculator can never give you a full picture of what a college will cost. Here are some of the biggest disadvantages:

  • Schools don’t always use the same guidelines for financial aid terms. For instance, grants and scholarships are often used interchangeably with a variety of different qualifying rules, which can make it hard to compare real costs.
  • An estimate of first-year costs might include scholarships and grants that aren’t renewable in future years.
    Last year may not reflect this year. Net price calculators are based on financial aid from previous years. The same amount of money may not be available this year.
  • Accuracy may fluctuate from one calculator to the next, making it difficult to compare actual college costs.

Net Price Calculators as a Starting Point for Comparing College Prices

After you plug in your financial information, family dynamic and academic information into a net price calculator, call the school for clarification on anything that’s unclear. For instance, were student loans subtracted from the amount you have to pay?

Then, ask what information the net price calculator is based on and how accurate it was in predicting financial aid for last year’s students. Ask how accurate the school expects the calculator to be in matching up to next year’s financial aid award offers.

Write down your notes on the sheet of paper or document you created. You can also plug numbers into online tools for comparing college offers.

Bottom Line

Net price calculators provide valuable information, but they shouldn’t be the only tool you use in helping estimate what a college might cost you. Plug in your financial, academic and family information into the calculators of your top school choices. Don’t avoid any college because of the sticker price. It’s only the net price, the price after financial aid is subtracted, that counts.