I put my info into one for a local state school, and it essentially said that it would cost $15,000 a year after merit-based scholarships, despite my calculations finding that it would cost maybe $5,000. Should I trust my calculations more, or the calculators?
I cant speak to every school but the ones I used were accurate. The one where my D will be attending was within $500. NPCs are inaccurate if you own a business, rental property, second home, etc.
Are you figuring more merit aid than the NPC?
How did you do your calculations, if not with the npc?
I do my calculations assuming more aid, likely. The website of the school says I would have full room and board, $1200 for fees, and about 1/2 of $7000 worth of tuition all covered. I figured that the second tier meal plan (about $1500) plus the remaining $3500 for tuition would mean roughly $5,000 a year. I have no clue where the additional $10,000 comes from, even if I am looking over something I don’t see how it could be $10,000 a year that I am missing.
Did the calculator ask you for your test scores and gpa?
On their scholarship pages do they indicate that FOR SURE you will get XX scholarship for those stats?
Sadly, I’ve seen calculators give an estimated scholarship and either they don’t even ask for stats or the award offered isn’t assured.
Are they including other costs such as books, health insurance, travel, and anticipated personal costs? Are there additional fees possible above the $1200? Still seems like $10K would be a big gap, but without an understanding of how they’re calculating the total cost of attendance there’s no way to know what the difference is.
The calculator asked if I had high enough for the third tier award, but a second look sees that they didn’t ask for the second tier award (which is what’s i’d be awarded). And the website does indicate that everyone with my stats would get this particular award.
They only calculate via personal costs (roughly $4,000) and books (estimated at $1200). I don’t see what I’d need $4000 for, though. And even so, I’d need an additional $6000 to make up the difference.
Some do not put in all scholarships if they aren’t a sure thing. If you KNOW you’ll get the scholarship, or have outside scholarships, then you can deduct those from the cost you are getting from the NPC. I found the NPCs to be very accurate (but then again, we weren’t getting need based aid at most schools). I knew my kids were getting one outside scholarship, plus one was getting an athletic scholarship that didn’t appear on the NPC, plus a state scholarships did appear sometimes and didn’t appear on others, so I deducted that too.
Usually the NPCs are set to take a full meal plan and a double traditional dorm room, which might not be what your child is planning. My daughter’s school used an ‘average’ dorm cost, but 90% of freshmen lived in a village that was about $1000/sem more than that ‘standard double.’ There was only one meal plan offered. Other daughter’s NPC calculated for 15 credits per semester, but the school charged by the credit, so since she took 17 tuition was off a little.
The accuracy depends on:
- How accurate is your data input
- How complicate is your family situation and income source.
If you are from a simple family with simple earned income and regular assets, it should be as accurate as your input data. In my case, I tried more than a handful of schools for my D1 several years ago and received financial aid packages from 5 of them. The calculations are quite accurate except for some of the loans and workstudy got offset by scholarships.
I had one college’s FA rep tell me specifically not to trust their NPC; while the pros at a couple of others said theirs were reliable.
The website definitely indicates that I would absolutely receive the second tier scholarship, and the same was relayed to me when I called. I will concede that while I know I am not getting need-based aid, this is based off of an assumption by what my parent’s say, so the amounts I put into the calculator are not absolute. However, many of the complexities that those colleges ask for in their NPC don’t apply to my family (like if we own land or whatnot). That being said, I was never relying on need-based aid in the first place to get my initial estimate. All I can assume is that the calculator is inaccurate or that I’m wrong (though I’m leaning towards the former due to my friends who matriculated at this school with lower stats that didn’t have to take out nearly as much money as I would have to according to this NPC).
Maybe list your stats and the school in question. I assume you are referring to one of the small number of auto tuition schools so someone will know.
My stats are as follows:
GPA: 3.6 (unweighted)
ACT: 32
In-state resident (eligible for TOPS, whatever state it may be in)
From what I can tell, these are the only major factors into the scholarship I am applying for at this particular university.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
TOPS (in theory) may cover tuition. It may not though, it all depends on what goes down in the legislature between now and when I begin. It’ll probably never be fully slashed, though.
Award I’d receive:
(Valued at $54,400)
Use of Laptop for 8 semesters
On-campus housing for 8 semesters
$1,200/semester for 8 semesters
Campus Job for 8 semesters
I was never much of a numbers guy (I concede that almost every class I got lower than an A in was a math-based course) so I may have gotten something wrong in my calculations from this point on, but other than that I’m not sure… The only costs I can see not being covered would be my meal plan and maybe personal expenses (with the potential for tuition to be a factor at varying degrees throughout my college career).
I think the problem with the NPC may be that they don’t want to put in the TOPS awards until the legislature funds it. Louisiana has had some cuts.
The NPC often are about need based FA. Some of the calculators do put the merit awards into the program but not all do. Look at what the NPC is telling you. Was it showing any need based money? Pell grant, state funds? Any merit aid? Did it even mention TOPS?
You could also ask your high school guidance counselor if s/he knows about the state programs and how they work. Or ask the admissions/financial aid office at the college. I think someone will be able to explain it to you.
The legislature just fully funded TOPS for next year but I agree with @twoinanddone that the NPC’s don’t take TOPS into account because it isn’t from the school. You can go to the TOPS website and see what the rate is for ULL for next year.
@twoinanddone It did ask about TOPS and my eligibility as a Louisiana resident, but it did not say I needed any aid based upon my financial situation.
@Sportsman88 Thanks!