<p>I've completed the net price calculator for my extensive list of colleges. I now need to sort them into the categories of financially feasible colleges and too expensive colleges. Some colleges seem deceptive with the way their net price is listed. All the colleges give net prices. The colleges differ in the amount money I will earn from "student work", "work-study", or "campus job" from $1,500-3,200. Are these figures based off of the average amount of money a student earns by working in the geographical area? Or are these just adjusted to make the school appear easier to afford? Should I subtract this amount from the net price when comparing college prices? Some colleges aren't listing this. Is it safe to assume that I will not be able to get a job while in college if I attend one of these institutions?</p>
<p>I'm also concerned with the section labeled "student loan". Is this a loan from the college that I will be qualified for on top of the direct stafford loan or is this a replacement of the direct stafford loan? Many colleges are listing this as $5,500 but what does this mean for the colleges that list this loan as less than $5,500 or for colleges that don't list this at all? Some colleges, such as Occidental are listing my federal student loans as less than $3,500 but also including "Occidental student loans" of $2,200. How do these loans differ? Some colleges are listing these as "Federal Direct Dubsidized Loans" and "Federal Direct Unsubsidised Loans". Is this the same as the stafford student loan? When comparing college prices, should I take the amount of loans avaliable?</p>
<p>What I would do is look at how what a school would cost you bottom line after the grants are applied. Forget the loans, for a moment here, because they are just a forebearnce of the cost. You just get to pay the amount over time with interest (most of the time). The same with Work Study. You can get a job without a work study and it may even go towards your expected contribution instead of towards your financial aid. So the bottom line number is what a school costs exclusive of self help. You then have $5500 in Direct Loans (also called Staffords) that you can get ANYWHERE (pretty much), so that is a given, Up to $3500 of could be subsidized. You might also be able to get Perkins, or state or school loans but NONE of those are guaranteed. The NPC is an avearage of what that school typically gives, so it doesn’t mean you will even get a piece of the pies that are shown, bear inmind. What’s available and what YOU might get can vary greatly.</p>
<p>My son just looked at the bottom line COAs of the schools, and tweaked them accord to transportation and other discretionary expenses. For example, for him to go to a school far away, meant air fare and more money than the estimate. Up the road, a lot less than the estimate. Some school also had a commuter option for him, whereas most did not since they were too far away. </p>
<p>But the loans and work study, take out of the picture because they would be the same ($5500 freshman year available ) across the board, and anything else not any guarantee.</p>
<p>In other words, take the COA and subtract grants, scholarships, and any other genuinely free money and ignore the rest.</p>
<p>Loans, work study, self help … none of that is changing the bottom line cost.</p>
<p>I’ve completed the net price calculator for my extensive list of colleges. I</p>
<p>Did your parents assist you with this? Are you sure that everything was included (sometimes students don’t know all what parents have.)</p>
<p>Do any parents own a business or have “business deductions”?</p>
<p>Are parents divorced? remarried?</p>
<p>Have your parents told you how much they will spend each year? (Be sure that your parents have agreed to pay what the NPCs have displayed - plus or minus a few thousand.)</p>
<p>NPCs seem to work best with more simple situations…married parents, no business deductions, simple assets, etc. NPCs aren’t often accurate when there are NCPs, businesses, other properties, unearned income, etc.</p>
<p>Do your cost comparison by subtracting the free money from a realistic COA. If you are frugal you will spend less than the average on books, personal expenses, some colleges seem to inflate those amounts, or their average is higher because of their students socioeconomic status, or high cost of living in that community. Don’t totally discount work study or outside work, the amounts vary depending on school policies , funding sources besides Federal money. $3200 seems to be a typical high end work study amount, keep in mind you may have trouble getting that much work in depending on rate of pay.</p>
<p>Do spend some time comparing the amounts that the various institutions include in the COA. Some will pad one item but skimp on another (or not even include a line item in the budget at all). Watch for institutions that bill by the credit for tuition/fees will use the tuition/fees for 12 credits in the COA when the program you are considering requires a minimum of 17 each semester to graduate on time, and for those places that use the cheapest on-campus housing and meal plans in the COA when most students end up in other residences.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who replied. I can compare schools now. :)</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
No, my parents did not assist me with this. They let me use their income tax returns and W-2 forms. They have told me that they can only spend a small amount so I’m attempting to find colleges that would fit this. My parents are married without any business and the only investment they have is my college plan. Should that make the calculator accurate?</p>
<p>Another thing to keep in mind in the last accounting if you are looking to pinch those pennies is to find out whether there is a cheap and active student ghetto around the school. If a lot of kids go off campus as upper classmen and the rent is inexpensive and it’s easy to find a room share, you might be able to better at such a school than, say NYU where you would be hard put to match the room and board prices they post on the COA. Some places just don’t have much off campus housing and it’s not cheap when kids do go off. Some places do. My kids did very well price wise (though amenities wise, the dumps they lived in were overpriced, IMO), well under what they would have paid in university housing. Eating lots of ramen and food scavenging brought their meal costs down very low too. My one son spent very little on food his senior year, and his rent was very low too, with his share of the utilities his highsest cost. I wouldn’t have chosen the way he lived, but that was what he did, and a lot of kids go that route. But you aren’t going to be able to do that at a school in the middle of prime real estate in a high price city.</p>
<p>That’s a good idea, I’ll look into the “student ghetto” at the colleges. Thanks for the tip!</p>