How accurate are the net price calculators that the collegeboard has on its website for schools?
There are many articles linked and discussion about that here previously. For some it works.
if your parents are divorced, own their a business, are self employed, or own real estate other than their primary residence…the NPC will not be particularly accurate.
@BrownParent when you say they won’t be particularly accurate if my parents own other real estate (which they do) would it predict more or less financial aid? I would assume less but it does ask that question when calculating so it may overcompensate or something.
It depends on how accurate is your data input and how simple/complicate your family income and relationship are. Nevertheless, I noticed one NPC to be totally off last year when they switched over to CB.
If your parents own real estate in addition to the net primary residence. The net price calculator will not be accurate. These don’t ask about this asset in most cases. It is very likely that your net price will come out much lower than it actually will be. A lot depends on the value of that piece of secondary real estate. And if it’s a rental property that adds a whole other issue…income from the rents.
Keep in mind also, there are deductions allowed for IRS tax purposes that might not be allowed for financial aid purposes. If not allowed for financial aid purposes, the deductions will be added back as income.
You can use the fafsa4caster to see what your FAFSA EFC might be. This WILL include those secondary pieces of real estate.
But if these are Profile Schools…really, all bets are off in terms of how these real estate assets will be treated.
NPC estimates are completely unreliable. I ran it for many colleges and now financial aid offers come in. They are a difference in a factor of 2. For example, GWU NPC said that I need to pay $23,000 based on filled CSS data, the actual cost from GWU is $47,000.
The NPC was extremely accurate for me. Married parents with basically no business, real estate, etc. NPC said we had to pay about $8000 for Duke; actual cost is just that.
@Sid2015
Well something must be unusual. Do you have business deductions? You own rental property?
We ran a few that didn’t ask about assets at all. If you have considerable assets, then no they won’t be accurate at all.
@Rdtsmith when I did some NPCs they did ask about real estate like rental properties (which, like I said, would affect me). Would them asking make it more accurate?
Yes I would say so. I noticed the Ivies asked many more specific questions, making them the most accurate.
@386392871
asking about rental properties and such are only going to be as accurate as the info provided. Many people underestimate value, and the schools adjust after they do their own “comps”.
The questions asked on the NPC will vary by school and also whether they are a FAFSA only or PROFILE school.
The other thing that is not reflected in the net price calculators. There are deductions allowed for rental properties and business owners allowed by the IRS, but are NOT allowed in terms of the financial aid calculations. Those deductions will be added back in as incime. Schools vary on how they deal with these small business/self employed/rental deductions…so YMMV by school.
I’d say it depends on how complicated your parents’ finances are. For one of my friends, the NPC generated almost exactly the amount of aid he got (off by only $200). In my experience, it was waaaay off. For most private schools, the NPC told me I’d be receiving $30,000 in aid. I got nothing from any of them, outside of academic scholarships - and those didn’t reach $30,000 either.