My dad and I used this price calculator for a couple schools, and the net prices were SHOCKINGLY low, and he is VERY sure he entered all numbers correctly with checking it once and twice over. Just curious, does anyone know how relatively accurate this calculator is?
It really depends on what school you are trying to get an idea about. If it is Yale, yes, they are very generous. If it is your state flagship (and it’s not UVa or Mich), the EFC might be low, but is the school going to meet need or gap you?
Be very careful about where the money is coming from to meet your COA. There is probably the Stafford loan of $5500, maybe work study of $3000 (which is money you have to earn as you go, not money available to pay your tuition in the fall. There may also be the big gap - sometimes found on NPC as “Parent Plus loan”.
Both of the NPCs for the schools my kids attend were exactly correct, but they had no need based financial aid and had a big number that I had to pay. Both asked questions about gpa and scores so included the merit aid that each school awarded based on those stats. One that is in a state where the state gives grants included those state grants. Some NPC only estimate the federal funds.
@twoinanddone Thanks a ton for your insight! For the record, the schools I did on the calculator were Cornell, CMU, and UMich
Shockingly low in what way?
@thumper1 it said our net cost at Cornell for example was $5700 and that shocked me
What is your parents’ income? Single parent or married? Own a business?
What are your ACT/GPA/SAT?
Why did you find it shocking? Do your parents have a high income?
Did you get to those CB Calculators from the school web sites? If so (and your family doesn’t own a business) they should be reasonably accurate. Estimates for business owners have less fidelity because schools add many deductions back in as income.
@Madison85 roughly $140k, married but earned by one parent, no business owned. my GPA is 4.0 UW and ACT is 35
@thumper1 roughly $140k and I guess they’re a lot more generous than I was led to believe
If your family income is $140,000, I doubt that your net orice at any of these schools would be in the $6000 a year range.
Please check the numbers you entered into this net price calculator. Or better yet…go straight to the colleges websites and use the NPC on each of those sites.
Cornell does meet full need…but with a $140,000 income and only one student in college, I would have guessed that your net price would be more in the $30,000 a year range.
$5700 net price would be just above Pell Grant eligibility…and with a $140,000 income…that wouldn’t happen unless you have two siblings in college at the same time.
@thumper1 OH I should’ve mentioned my brother will be in college at the same time sorry
Even with 2 kids and $140k in income, a 5k EFC is too low (perhaps around the 15k ball park per kid). I would advise re-checking everything that you put in to make sure that there are no errors.
Currently, how much is your brother’s EFC? Where does he attend school?
Ok…that makes more sense! With two in college, the colleges that meet full need will likely be that generous…or in that ball park anyway.
However…when will your brother graduate? When he does, your family contribution will increase if you are still in college. So keep,that in mind when planning for your college years.
Also, is your brother current,y a college student? If so, he would already have completed HIS FAFSA for the upcoming school year…indicating two in college. What was his EFC on the SAR that he would have received when completing his FAFSA?
my brother attends Truman State University and he is 2 years ahead and will graduate college in 2019 (I will in 2021). I don’t believe my father has done the FAFSA yet, but I will check
You need to do the calculations with one in college (to get a ball park to what it will look like when you are in school)
then you need to run the net price calculator with 2 in college.
Ok, thanks for the advice!
Your father hasn’t done the FAFSA yet for your brother?
He might want to see what the deadline is for returning students on that one.
@thumper1 I’ll make sure to let him know
We found the NPC’s fairly accurate for our straightforward situation (i.e. no business, etc). But it’s only as accurate as the data you put in. One possible mistake is forgetting to put in any 401K contributions. Another possibility, when they listed your possible aid did they put in a large Parent Plus loan? I would look carefully at what kind of aid they are listing in their estimates, not just the amount of it.