Resources

The MEFA SAI Calculator: Your "SAI (student aid index)" is the number that the federal government *thinks* you can pay for college each year. We like this calculator because it doesn't require you to enter any identifying information. We recommend that parents use this calculator as a first step in understanding how much will be expected to pay for one year of college.

Net price calculators: Each college is required to have a "net price calculator (NPC)" available on its website. This can give you a more accurate estimate of what each particular college will expect you to pay. Parents can fill out the net price calculator on their own, but you may need to know your student's GPA. If the college offers merit aid to many of its students, it may ask for the student's GPA in order to estimate the amount of merit aid it would offer. You can find each school's NPC by searching for "net price calculator + school name." For instance, here is the NPC for UMass Amherst. NPCs are "garbage in, garbage out," so make sure you have documents (W2s, tax returns, investment and bank account info) on hand so you are able to enter accurate information.

The FAFSA Form: The office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) is the branch of the US Department of Education that oversees the FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid). You will need to fill out this form each year your student is in college if you hope to receive any need-based financial aid. A student can also fill this out if don't expect to get need-based aid but want to take out a "federal direct loan" from the US government. These loans have a lower interest rate than private loans do, but the maximum amount a student can take out is $5500 for the first year of college.

The CSS Profile Form: About 200–300 undergraduate institutions also require families to fill out the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. These schools tend to be the highly selective ones, and they take a deeper dive into your finances to determine how they will award their institutional aid (not federal aid) to students. You can review the list of schools that require this form here. For divorced parents, you can also look in the "Noncustodial Parents" column to determine whether the parent without primary custody all needs to submit information for this form. 

PrepScholar: PrepScholar is a good website for determining "at a glance" whether a student could be a competitive applicant for a school. You can google "Prep Scholar + school name," and you will be able to see the college's acceptance rate, the average GPA, and the average SAT and ACT scores.

CollegeXpress: You can search for colleges by major or by a certain aspect of the student experience. For instance, there are lists that focus on Greek life, school spirit, political leanings, or how LGBTQ friendly schools are. Most lists come from the book The College Finder by Steven Antonoff, who is considered in professional circles to be the college expert. It's also important to note that schools do not pay to be on these lists. 

College Match: A Blueprint for Choosing the Best School for You by Steven Antonoff: This book offers surveys and worksheets for students to fill out to help them self-reflect and give them direction as they navigate the admissions process.

Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions by Jeffrey Selingo: Author Jeffrey Selingo writes about observing the admissions processes at three very different schools: Emory University, Davidson College, and the University of Washington. Selingo also breaks schools down into two groups: the "buyers" and "sellers." He recommends having a mix of them on your list so you have a range of financial options once your student receives acceptances. You can also learn more about his "buyers and sellers" theory from the video on his website. 

Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope: This book profiles 40 colleges (mostly small liberal arts colleges) that have a big impact on their students' lives. They tend not to have the name recognition of other schools – but Loren Pope is trying to change that! 

Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni: Frank Bruni is a journalism professor at Duke University and a columnist for The New York Times. He makes that argument that it's not where you go to school that determines how successful you'll be, but it's what you do when you get there. 

The Price You Pay for College by Ron Lieber: Ron Lieber is a columnist for The New York Times and makes the argument that there should be more transparency about college costs when families are making one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make. He shares questions to ask depending on what aspects of college life (community college, honors colleges, school size, faculty dedication to teaching) and cost are important to you.