<p>"Parents comparing college costs would be doing themselves and their kids a huge disservice if they just pay attention to listed tuition prices. What really matters is how much the school will cost you after financial aid and outside scholarships." ...</p>
<p>Sounds good (and obvious) to me.</p>
<p>Parents need to check the costs of attendance…tuition, fees, room, board, books, etc. Just using tuition is not going to work. </p>
<p>Every college has a net price calculator on it. This will give you a good ESTIMATE of your net costs at each college. However, if the parents are divorced, own a business, are self employed, or own real estate in addition to the primary residence, the NPC won’t be accurate. In addition…not really for international students either.</p>
<p>Also important to keep in mind that college is at least a four year plan. Families need to plan for four years, not just freshman year. Some of the outside scholarships are for one year only and are not renewable.</p>
<p>In terms of need based aid, families also need to understand that their net costs very possibly will increase if their financial situation improves in subsequent years.</p>
<p>Savvy parents in MA should be well aware of this. Fees at UMass Amherst are higher than tuition.</p>
<p>Tuition is only half the cost. Living expenses can vary greatly depending on where the college is located. Parents need to look at on campus and off campus costs for all four years.</p>
<p>Yeah. It sounds obvious to me too. ;)</p>
<p>“Sounds good (and obvious) to me.”</p>
<p>Yes, it’s obvious, just like most of what is posted by CC admins to try to generate discussions.</p>
<p>“Why Applying to Schools Based on Tuition Prices Can Cost Families Money”
-NOBODY does it. People simply have common sense, despite of a different impression. We knew exactly the list of colleges that would provide Merit awards and we even somewhat guestimated which ones would give more than others. People talk to others, to parents with kids who have applied and had similar stats, just a common sense. My kid did not apply to a single school that would not offer her Merit award. And our “guestimation” was about right, except that she got better than expected at the school that she eventually ended up attending (based on different criteria) and less at some other that she decided to turn down (again using different criteria than cost)</p>
<p>MiamiDAP…not everyone has common sense. And not everyone does things your way.</p>
<p>Carry on.</p>
<p>I agree with thumper1 that not everyone has common sense or understands this approach. I see it all the time on these forums. For example, on the musical theater forum, I see parents state that they won’t let their kids apply to certain schools because of the high price tag, rather than understanding that the price tag is not the final price after need-based and/or merit based aid in many cases. </p>
<p>I have a sibling who always states (in a negative fashion) how I sent my kids to very expensive colleges (his kids went to state U’s but they were OUT of state U’s). However, one of my kids went to NYU, which while a every expensive university, offered the highest amount of scholarship (significant) of all the schools she applied to, bringing the price tag down substantially. My other kid went to an Ivy and Ivies tend to have very good need based financial aid and that kid got significant aid, which would be even a lot higher today given the more liberal FA policies that were developed after her time there. So, in essence, my kids’ colleges did not cost nearly what the initial price tag indicated. Glad my kids still applied. Their final price tag at these expensive private schools was not higher than my nephew/nieces’ tag at public universities out of state. </p>
<p>Well, you know I thought all the UCs are cheap or the same price. Digging a little deeper not all UCs are created equals. Some UCs are more expensive for OOS like UCI, some are more expensive in state. I know my daughter’s university is reasonably cheapest for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>I consider this common sense if I’m in a room full of admissions consultants. I don’t consider it common sense for first-time parents. I’d be out of business if everybody knew this. Even a lot of educated professionals do not.</p>
<p>It’s not a truth universally known, judging from the number of threads on CC asking for help in identifying public colleges w low OOS tuition. </p>
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<p>Some may not be accurate (usually too optimistic), but some take such things as divorced parents and international students into account.</p>
<p>A prospective student can still use NPCs which may not fully account for many these things by running “worst case” (for financial aid) situations such as using revenue instead of income for rental real estate, self employment, and small business earnings. In addition, always include both parents’ income and wealth in divorced situations, unless the school explicitly states otherwise or uses only FAFSA information.</p>
<p>Using NPCs in this way is likely to be better than the “apply and hope” method.</p>
<p>I think there is a much more common problem of people NOT taking the stated tuition into account. Everywhere you turn, you read articles telling you that there is financial aid available and don’t let cost stop you from applying. </p>
<p>To us full pays, those articles can feel like a kick in the teeth, so maybe it just seems like there are more of them than there actually are. </p>
<p>But even so, I do think there is a popular conception among top students - and their teachers and parents - that schools like Penn will be affordable if only their kid can get in. For many top students in the Philadelphia area who consider themselves upper middle class, Penn will in fact be more than a 100k more expensive than relatively pricey Penn State.</p>
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That’s when u look at the schools that give generous merit aid, and u pick ths ones where child is going to be a standout stats-wise.</p>
<p>I have this conversation with other parents all the time and trust me, most people don’t get this. I can’t come close to affording the public colleges in my state, private schools are the only real choice for my family. But people see those 60K sticker prices and rule them out right away.</p>
<p>I’ve learned to look at the endowment to number of students ratio to get a rough feeling of how much money is potentially available. That’s still unreliable specially with public universities though.</p>