Work out a college’s net price from its cost of attendance minus grants and scholarships, see what loans and work-study leave, or compare two schools.
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Calculator Functions
The calculator takes the figures from a college’s cost of attendance and your aid offer and gives the net price: what a year at that college costs after grants and scholarships. Select a function to open it in the calculator.
| Function | Use it when | You enter |
|---|---|---|
| Net price for one college | You have one college’s costs and aid offer | Each part of the cost of attendance and the grants and scholarships |
| Compare two colleges | You are choosing between two offers | Each college’s total cost of attendance and its grants and scholarships |
Leave out any cost line that does not apply. The optional settings add the loans and work-study offered and the number of years, 4 unless you change it.
Net Price Formulas
| N | Net price per year |
| C | Cost of attendance: tuition and fees, plus allowances for housing and food, books and supplies, transportation and personal expenses [2] |
| G | Grants and scholarships: need-based and merit-based aid from federal, state and college sources that does not have to be repaid |
Federal law defines a college’s net price this way: its cost of attendance minus the grant aid students receive, averaged over first-time, full-time undergraduates who get that aid [1]. With your own aid offer in place of the average, the same subtraction gives your net price. Each college sets its own allowances for housing and food, books, transportation and personal costs [2], so use the figures from the college you are looking at.
Loans and work-study
Here L is the student loans offered and W the work-study. Loans and work-study are not taken off the net price, because loans are repaid and work-study is earned through a job. They do cover part of the bill during the year, so the calculator also shows what is left after them.
Each college’s own net price calculator
Every college that takes part in federal student aid programs must post a net price calculator on its website, so current and prospective students can estimate their individual net price at that college [1]. Once you have estimates or offers from several colleges, Compare two colleges puts them side by side.
Worked example
A college lists tuition and fees of $12,000, housing and food of $12,500, books and supplies of $1,200, transportation of $1,500 and personal expenses of $2,000, a cost of attendance of $29,200. With $9,000 in grants and scholarships, the net price is $29,200 − $9,000 = $20,200 a year, or $80,800 over four years at the same prices. If the offer also includes $5,500 in loans and $2,500 in work-study, $12,200 a year is left to pay from savings or income.
Limits of This Estimate
- The result is only as good as the figures entered. Allowances for housing, books and travel are each college’s estimates, and what you actually spend can be higher or lower.
- The total over several years repeats this year’s prices and aid. Both can change from one year to the next.
- The net price a college publishes is an average for students who receive grant aid [1]; your own price depends on your own offer.
Sources
- 20 U.S. Code § 1015a, Transparency in college tuition for consumers: the definition of net price as cost of attendance minus grant aid, and the requirement that each college post a net price calculator
- 20 U.S. Code § 1087ll, Cost of attendance: the items that make up a student’s cost of attendance, as determined by each college
