Cost Considerations
Applying for financial aid and scholarships are important steps in helping you pay for college, but considering the full costs of campuses is also important. This can mean thinking about costs, merit aid, and time to degree. Some of these are highlighted below and use resources provided.
Looking for information on applicaiton fee waivers? See the Fee Waivers page!
Do you know all the costs involved in attending college? This Big Future College Board page breaks down each type of cost so you know what schools are referring to in their estimates.
What is Net Price?
An important step in figuring out what college will cost, is knowing the difference between sticker price and net price. Many students do not pay the full cost listed on a college website because they have grants and scholarships available them.Â
Image and more info from this site: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/focus-on-net-price-not-sticker-price
How do you figure out the net price?
Knowing the net price of a school can help students and families make good choices about which schools to research, apply to, and, ultimately, attend. A net price calculator helps families estimate the actual cost of attending, taking into consideration a student's individual financial situation and the financial aid awarding practices of the specific school. A net price is the cost of a school after grants and scholarships awarded by the campus are deducted from the "sticker price" (which usually includes tuition, room & board, and supplies).
Net price calculators are located on many school websites. Or you can search for your school's calculator using one of these sources:
The College Essay Guy has covered this topic on his podcast thoroughly and provides suggestions on how to research schools with the question of cost in mind.
Big Educational Consulting provides an annual spreadsheet of financial aid awards given to students. On this sheet you can see the percentage of students who receive needs-based and merit aid, as well as the average award. This information can help you determine which schools to research or which you will be most likely to receive award offers from. Please consult with the CCC for more information on how to effectively use this spreadsheet. This is also covered in the College Essay Guy's podcast above.
Cappex (also has a large scholarship database) provides this list of colleges base d on those that will "meet need" for students that are admitted. The colleges on this list have a stated commitment to provide all admitted US citizens and US permanent residents with a financial aid package that covers 100% of their calculated financial need. The colleges that cover all demonstrated need for undocumented and DACA students are included as well.
Some student search for schools based on the scholarship opportunities available. This list gives some suggestions of schools that have large merit scholarships that are applied to separately from admission (some schools may offer merit automatically with admission as well).