Mac's Net Price Calculator

Colleges and Universities A-Z Macalester College
1

<p>After visiting and loving Macalester, my daughter put it #1 on her list of considerations and now anxiously awaits her rd answer. </p>

<p>In the meantime, I'm still trying to get a better feel for which of the colleges she applied to are realistically affordable for our family. Even with a few generous merit offers, an EFC that came out higher than we can swing will probably knock several of them out of contention. </p>

<p>When I did the price calculator for Macalester, I was pleasantly surprised. If dd is accepted by Mac and the fa package comes back anywhere in that ballpark, we will all be over the moon and she will happily head to St Paul in the fall. </p>

<p>Does anyone have prior experience utilizing Mac's net price calculator and then finding it was either fairly reliable or wildly off the mark in comparison to actual financial aid offered?</p>

2

<p>I don’t have any insight into the particular accuracy of Mac’s calculator. But, can offer a little background on this topic. (You may already know all this.) </p>

<p>The law requiring colleges to supply a net price calculator on their websites for prospective students just took effect during the last school year (in October 2011). Schools can elect to develop their own calculator or use the one that the US Dept of Education puts out. Mac appears to have developed its own. Net price calculators vary widely in accuracy. They are all highly dependent upon the accuracy of the information the prospect inputs. A small difference in GPA, assets or income can sometimes yield greatly different net price results.</p>

3

<p>Just received our Fin Aid letter and Mac’s net Price Calculator was pretty darn accurate. As with most, we have our share of variables (some quite unsual) and the official offer was within a couple thousand of what the Net price Calculator came up with. Best of luck to you.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, we realized that the “good news” from the npc of Feb 5 was almost certainly due to a glitch. I got a similarly low estimated net price on the same day from another college that also uses College Board to administer their npc. On closer inspection, both award estimates included a Pell grant, which we would not qualify for. When I re-did the npc’s for both colleges 3 wks later (was very careful to input the same amts in each field, which I had printed out from the first time), the net price for each was over 20,000 higher.</p>

<p>Also unfortunately, our family spent 3 weeks with the unrealistic idea that we could perhaps afford Macalaster, and during that time our daughter became even more attached to the idea of attending college there. I blame myself for this, getting sucked in to the idea despite the little voice I was trying to ignore saying “If it sounds to good to be true…” </p>

<p>The whole financial aid process has been quite a shock to the system for us, with an EFC of almost half of our take-home pay. We always told our daughter that if she worked hard in school, doing well in the most rigorous courses offered as well as establishing an active base of ec’s, she could write our own ticket (fwiw she has an uw 3.8 gpa in an IB program, 31 ACT, president of a school club, music, 10 yrs in a sport, and many many hours of community service). </p>

<p>I’m thinking that unless a middle income student is in the top 1-2% stats wise, the exorbitant cost of a private lac is likely to shut them out, unless they or their parents are willing to take on an unadvisable amt of debt. I don’t know of any family from our neighborhood (parents are teachers, police officers, private school administrators, computer programmers, engineers, small business owners) who have or plan to send their high achieving students anywhere but the honors program at our state flagship university. The same is true for the cohort our daughter will graduate with this year. Only the lower income and higher income students in her graduating class are likely to head out of state., exept for a few who are taking advantage of state-to-state exhanges with other large state universities. </p>

<p>I realize I have gone off on a rant here, which I didn’t initially intend. There are far worse fates for a young person than ‘having’ to attend a state university. I just want to point out the cost of a private lac like Mac remains out of reach for many middle income families, despite having students who would have much to offer these colleges and vice-versa.</p>

5

<p>Well, I know that Macalester is known for good financial aid - however, they are also not need blind - which is causing our family some anxiety! If you are on the bubble, needing financial aid can really work against you.</p>

<p>I know what you mean - my son has worked very hard - we would have been in a better position to pay more for these ultra expensive schools - and that’s exactly how I classify schools where realistically if you pay full price it’s north of $60k a year - but the economy downturn hit us in earnings. It’s sad when even with fairly generous merit and grant aid - you still look at $30k/year. AND, I get hacked off every time a loan is classified as aid - because there is always a gap between EFC and the merit/grant amount - and that’s not reduced by LOANS, it’s still out of pocket. It just makes the number look a little smaller.</p>

<p>OK - end rant.</p>

6

<p>Sigh. Here’s my rant…</p>

<p>We share that frustration. Even with S as National Merit Scholarship Finalist, his affordable options, based on merit scholarships, are state LAC, where there are currently less than 10 majors in physics (his top interest). Even before NMSF status (when still a semi finalist) he was offered large % merit scholarship for 4 years, making it completely affordable. He has also been accepted at flagship university with strong, strong sciences, and massive enrollment size. We won’t hear about financial aid/merit scholarships there until end of month, and the honors program in sciences is so competitive and limited, he may not get in despite a stellar record.</p>

<p>But his heart tells him strongly that he would thrive at private LAC, and we agree. After 4+ years of mostly unemployment due to layoffs during which we kept our house by using our S’s college fund (we were lucky we had been able to save it), and massive medical bills and new debt for basic necessities, the last 18 months of solid, single income apparently cancels out the prior 4 years and makes us look undeserving of financial aid, while we can barely keep our heads above water (i.e. the bills). Our EFC made us choke. We aren’t going to give up. Spouse is still pounding pavement for employment, and we’re assessing penalties for early withdrawal of retirement funds (we are also lucky to have some). If he gets in, we will get him there. Not sure how, but we are determined. It probably means retirement at 85 yrs, but so be it. I know a lot of people don’t agree with making it such a priority, but I had the chance to go to a LAC long ago. I would have been lost at a huge state university. For some kids, it could be the difference between thriving and misery. It’s sad that the middle is getting so squeezed and that it is so much harder to provide for 1 child what my parents, on one income, provided for 4 kids. </p>

<p>OK, end of my rant. Maybe we should rename this thread the Rant Thread…</p>

<p>Good luck to all of your S’s and D’s with acceptance letters and I hope they receive the FA they need to attend.</p>