<p>The purpose of this thread is to catalog schools whose Net Price Calculator (NPC) includes an estimate of merit aid. The merit aid estimate should be dependent on some form of merit stats (GPA, test scores, rank, etc.), as opposed to some schools whose calculator simply includes the average merit award for all students in the NPC.</p>
<p>Format is:</p>
<p>School Name
Link to NPC
Stats collected by NPC (GPA, test scores, etc.)</p>
<p>Also if you have info on whether the calculation was accurate for you that would be helpful to include.</p>
<p>School: Drew University
NPC Link: [Cost</a> Calculator - For Undergraduate Students | Financial Assistance | Drew University](<a href=“http://www.drew.edu/scripts/costcalculator/]Cost”>http://www.drew.edu/scripts/costcalculator/)
Stats: GPA</p>
<p>Accuracy: For us the merit aid estimate was accurate (within 10%).</p>
<p>School: Agnes Scott College
NPC Link: [Land</a> Page](<a href=“http://www.collegecostcalculator.org/agnesscott]Land”>http://www.collegecostcalculator.org/agnesscott)
Stats: ACT, SAT (CR, M, W), GPA, Class Rank</p>
<p>Accuracy: Estimate was low by a lot, but daughter’s merit aid was competitive award</p>
<p>School: Wofford College
NPC: <a href=“https://wofford.studentaidcalculator.com/welcome.aspx[/url]”>Unknown Address;
Stats: GPA, Rank, ACT, SAT (CR, M)</p>
<p>Accuracy: Estimate was much higher than actual merit aid offer</p>
<p>School: University of Alabama
NPC: [Net</a> Price Calculator - Financial Aid - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://financialaid.ua.edu/net-price-calculator/]Net”>Net Price Calculator – Financial Aid | The University of Alabama)
Stats: GPA, ACT, SAT (CR+M)</p>
<p>Accuracy: Estimate was low (Presidential Scholar=full tuition) vs. actual (NMF=full tuition+room+extra). Not surprising since the calculator doesn’t ask for NMSF/NMF info.</p>
<p>School: Case Western Reserve
NPC: [University</a> Financial Aid :: Case Western Reserve University](<a href=“Financial Aid | Case Western Reserve University”>Financial Aid | Case Western Reserve University)
Stats: GPA, ACT, SAT (CR+M)</p>
<p>Accuracy: No data</p>
<p>School: University of Oklahoma
NPC: [University</a> of Oklahoma Financial Aid Services](<a href=“Student Financial Center”>http://netprice.ou.edu/)
Stats: Rank, GPA, ACT, SAT (CR+M)</p>
<p>Accuracy: Estimate was low (Award of Excellence Scholarship=$5K/year) vs. actual (NMF=Full Ride), not surprising since the calculator did not collect NMSF/NMF information.</p>
<p>One nice feature of the Oklahoma calculator is a list of other possible merit awards that appears on the same page as the net price estimate. This list did include the NMF award.</p>
<p>School: Tulane University
NPC Link: <a href=“https://tulane.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx[/url]”>Tulane University - Net Price Calculator;
<p>Stats: Rank, GPA, ACT, SAT</p>
<p>Accuracy: No idea</p>
<p>School: Simmons College
NPC: <a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
Stats: GPA, Rank, Honors/AP/IB Courses, SAT (CR+M+W, CR+M), ACT, NMSF</p>
<p>Accuracy: No data</p>
<p>I was just discussing this with a young lady on this board about Simmons. Just as admissions data is an average so is NPC info. Anyone who is applying to a specialty program should understand that the data may not be relevant at all. An example is a nursing program. The aerospace program at Purdue is another such case. CMU has a number of schools and getting into the Computer Science departement is a whole other story from getting into HS&S. THe same if there are auditions or portfolids involved. Just as admissions is affected so are aid packages and even more acutely merit awards. Merit money is used to “buy” what a school wants and needs. A school is not likely to pay for students when they have a surplus of that sort standing in line to come.</p>
<p>Bob - The 684 colleges using Student Aid Services, Inc.'s custom net price calculator accurately estimate merit aid. Most, if not all, custom NPCs do the same. You can try many of those NPCs at [Examples</a> of Our Work - Student Aid Services](<a href=“HugeDomains.com”>HugeDomains.com). About 1,500 of the countrys 6,800 colleges and other post-secondary schools posted accurate, custom net price calculators that are predictive that is they are algorithmic calculators based on current or future aid award formulas and cost of attendance. These provide reliable merit aid estimates.</p>
<p>However, more than 5,000 colleges and other schools chose to create an NPC using the free federal NPC template, which functions as a very simplistic data table that looks up a students estimated grant aid award and net price based on two-year-old aid award averages, rather than an algorithm that can more precisely calculate estimates. (Colleges cannot change these parameters.) Thats why they are referred to as reflective NPCs. On top of that problem, the federal NPC template doesnt adhere to the exact Federal Methodology for determining need-based aid. </p>
<p>To your query, any college using the federal template NPC is estimating merit aid without asking any academic criteria questions! That typically makes a students net price inaccurate especially at institutions that offer substantial merit aid. For example, high-need, high-achieving students would not get the correct merit aid credit for their academic achievements Also, the federal template does not calculate military aid for veterans and active duty service members.</p>
<p>Using profiles of 145,490 real dependent and independent students, Student Aid Services in two tests determined the federal template produced inaccurate aid and net price estimates 54% of the time often showing institutions to be more expensive than they actually are.</p>
<p>MFallon - can you comment the comparison of methodology/accuracy of your net price calculator vs the one that the College Board offers ([Participating</a> Schools | College Board - Net Price Calculator for Students](<a href=“Net Price Calculator (NPC) Participating Schools | Education Professionals – College Board”>Net Price Calculator (NPC) Participating Schools | Education Professionals – College Board)).</p>
<p>I assume both are completely configurable by the individual schools and the accuracy of both for showing either need-based or merit aid is really dependent on the proper configuration by the school itself?</p>
<p>School: Fordham
NPC: <a href=“https://fordham.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx[/url]”>Fordham University - Net Price Calculator;
Stats: GPA, Rank, SAT (CR,M,W), ACT</p>
<p>Accuracy: Estimate was low ($15K/year) compared to actual (Full Tuition/year), not surprising since full tuition award was based on NMF and that information was not collected.</p>
<p>School: University of Miami
NPC: [University</a> of Miami - Net Price Calculator](<a href=“http://public.cgcent.miami.edu/AttendanceCalculator/]University”>http://public.cgcent.miami.edu/AttendanceCalculator/)
Stats: GPA, Rank, SAT/ACT</p>
<p>Accuracy: No data</p>
<p>School: Furman
NPC: <a href=“https://app.furman.edu/financialaidNPC/[/url]”>https://app.furman.edu/financialaidNPC/</a>
Stats: GPA, Rank, SAT (CR,M), ACT, ECs, Writing Skill</p>
<p>Accuracy: No data</p>
<p>I just ran across this thread from last year. Does anyone have any other schools to add that have merit aid calculators?</p>
<p>School: Truman State
NPC: [Net</a> Price Calculator - Truman State University](<a href=“http://netprice.truman.edu/]Net”>http://netprice.truman.edu/)
Stats: residency, ACT, SAT, GPA, rank, legacy
Note: includes automatic by stats scholarships only, not competitive scholarships</p>
<p>School: WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
NPC: [Financial</a> Aid: Net Price Calculator - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/offices/fa/netprice.html]Financial”>http://www.wpi.edu/offices/fa/netprice.html)
Stats: SAT, ACT, NMF, class rank (val / sal only), GPA
Accuracy: Came out low; D got $3,500 more in regular merit plus additional 5K for project abroad.</p>
<p>School: RPI (Rensselear Polytechnic Institute)
NPC: [Rensselaer</a> Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Net Price Calculator](<a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/npc/]Rensselaer”>http://www.rpi.edu/npc/)
Stats: SAT, ACT, Rank, medalist status, intended major
Accuracy: Came out low for us; D was offered $6,250 more per year in merit than was projected by NPC</p>