<p>Why do a lot of students who are trying to narrow down large lists of colleges seem to be unwilling to use the net price calculators as a quick screen? Given how this can be done rather quickly, resulting in the removal of any clearly unaffordable colleges, allowing the student to concentrate research on a smaller set of colleges, it seems odd that many students seem unwilling to do that. (These are not students who said that they and their parents can afford list price at the colleges they are considering.)</p>
<p>Not sure… oh, how we would have liked NPC a few years ago.</p>
<p>Probably because they don’t know all the details of their parent’s financial situation or they don’t know what the NPC is.</p>
<p>^ This, and because they really don’t want to take schools off the table due to finances. We’ve all seen some responses like “I want to apply to competitive schools and I’ll look at costs after I’m admitted.”</p>
<p>My guess is it’s the parents who are using the Net Price Calculators. I agree most high school kids wouldn’t know the financial information to input into the form.</p>
<p>Shrink and Erin’s Dad are right. Many don’t know the financial details, especially if they have NCPs. And, some don’t want to “burst their bubbles.” </p>
<p>The ones who don’t know their family’s situation need to ask their parents to do the NPCs.</p>
<p>The idea of “comparing prices” later really only safely works if the student has a financial safety that he likes or he knows that his family will pay all costs, but is just looking to see if they get some help.</p>
<p>I think it’s partly not having the financial info from parents, and partly teenage magical thinking…they think that the $$$ will be there because their parents have always come through before. It’s so sad to read all those posts every spring, about how a student got in to dream college, and the parent is “saying No” because of finances…</p>
<p>boysx3–very true. I would also add that to them a difference of $5000 or $10,000 doesn’t sound like very much compared to the overall costs of the school. I know we are STILL struggling with our DD to grasp the fact that her #1 choice is still leaving a gap of $25,000 where the rest of her schools are coming in at $10,000 or less. With 2 going off to school, the $25,000 is NOT happening.</p>
<p>Steve,</p>
<p>isn’t it the way of teenagers to focus on what they can’t have and make it their greatest heart’s desire anyway? Sort of the forbidden fruit becoming the most attractive, even if only because it is the one they can’t have.</p>
<p>It’s never fun having to say no to something our kids want but it’s part of life.</p>
<p>But your DD has so many great choices already…she is going to come out of this in a good place, and when she is self-supporting she will realize exactly how much $5000 or $10,000 is, much less $25,000–especially that much in “take home” pay.</p>
<p>boysx3–she keeps telling us that we are “letting” her brother go to his lottery school–um, no, we told him the same thing, if the $$$ doesn’t work out, you aren’t going. He did apply there though :D. Kids…</p>
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<p>Or the students who got into one or more colleges, but none are affordable, so they disappointedly back into a community college as the default safety. Community college is not necessarily a bad choice, but the letdown of backing into it instead of consciously planning for it as the safety could be damaging.</p>
<p>Another factor is that many, many colleges and universities bury the cost information so far down inside the financial aid pages, that without a dedicated search for that information, a reader simply will never come across it. Using the website search function for “cost of attendance 200XX” or “net price calculator” does not always lead directly to the one page with that information. This means that a student has a lot of time to fall in love with the institution befor finally finding out about costs.</p>
<p>I think the blame lies squarely with the parents on this one. They need to set realistic expectations for their kids BEFORE the college search begins. Have an open discussion with them about what they are willing/able to pay. Explain to them what student loan debt looks like for a young adult just starting out after college. Make sure they realize what sacrifices are involved for the family as a whole. In my experience it is the parents who engage in wishful thinking as much as the students. I know one mom who bragged for years about how her son was going to get into Stanford because of his perfect grades, talents, etc. She and her husband set the expectation with their child that he WOULD get in and he WOULD be able to attend. When the skinny envelope came, she sent me an email saying “good thing he didn’t get into Stanford–we wouldn’t have been able to pay for it!” I guess they got lucky.</p>
<p>In other cases the parents “have” the money to pay for their top choices, but when the child doesn’t get into those or chooses one they disapprove of, they find themselves in the tough spot of having to suck it up and pay full tuition for a lesser school that they don’t think is worth the money.</p>
<p>I think some of this falls on us parents. We never disclosed what we make to our daughters. We simply told them what we could afford to pay. A kid knowing how much you earn means nothing if they don’t understand how much you have going out every month. I did tell each of them that based on the FAFSA we don’t qualify for any grants or “aid” other than the Stafford Loans which we limit to $2500 yr. So from there they can figure out what schools we can afford. </p>
<p>We’ve seen swings on merit aid from $2,000 yr to $12,000 yr so far with our youngest D, so unless the tuition is WAY high, I encouraged her to apply because you never know what the final cost will be until you know what scholarships they will offer. I really like the schools that put the calculators out there to determine merit awards based on GPA and ACT scores. That helps a lot. We did let D apply to her “dream school” as a long shot. She understands it is a long shot for affordability, but she wanted to see if she could get in.</p>
<p>I think the most important thing is to keep communicating with your child and find schools that you both agree on. We have that school picked out. She’s admitted and we know what her merit aid is and the final cost. We’re $4,000 a year away from making this school happen for her. Sure she could take more loans but we’ve educated her on the dangers of debt and set a $10,000 limit for the 4 years with the expectation the SL’s will be repaid ASAP after graduation. No deferment, no 10 yr repayment plans. Right now she is retaking the ACT and applying for private scholarships.</p>
<p>happymomof1-I haven’t had a problem finding the costs on any of the websites we’ve looked at and the NPC are almost always a on the side menus or a ‘button’ on the financial aid page. Yes, sometimes the costs are broken out and you have to add them up but usually there is a net price listed. These are generally either under the admissions tab or the financial aid tab. If you can’t find the costs there, do a google search for the common data set for whatever school and the costs are listed there.</p>
<p>It’s a relatively new thing for one. You may need tax info. And you have to do it per school whereaas the FAFSA is viewed as more universal. Most people do not know how it works with financial aid. So kids…they are no exception. Though we know how FAFSA and PROFILE work and interplay with each other, it is not an intutive process. I’ve had some savvy adults look at me like the story’s crazy when I explain how it works. </p>
<p>The NPC are not so accuarate when all merit awards without stats and other info inputed. Schools that do not guarantee to meet need can come out with some average numbers that would not apply to anyone. </p>
<p>What I often suggest is looking at the percentage of students getting merit and full financial need from the data given in USNews and other sources at a school ,and then estimating what percent the student would be in. I figure that the student has to be in the upper half of the percentage getting the money in order to be getting the average awards or more. There also has to be a respectable number of the large awards.</p>
<p>My experience is that actual FinAid packages differ from the NPC outputs. I got packages that were different by about 10K per yer from similarly ranked schools that both promised to “meet full need”. If you look at the CSS Profile, the form asks for a lot of information that is not in the NPC, and this may be a reason.
I posted before here on CC that, in my view, the best strategy is to “cast a wide net” and send a large number of applications. The obvious drawback is the effort and the application fees.</p>
<p>SteveMA -</p>
<p>I do admit that finding this information has become easier in recent years, but it is not on the first screen, and rarely on the first screen of the financial aid page. You have to deliberately look for it. Few kids are going to do that. Most of them have other factors that they think are the important ones.</p>
<p>I can understand why financial information is buried. If it were smack on the very first screen where Mom & Dad could see it immediately, a lot of parents would be selecting their kids’ colleges on money alone.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, some of the students (and even parents) seem to refuse to use them even after the suggestion is made on these forums, even though they do say that they need an unspecified amount of financial aid and scholarships. It is as if they are using the “apply blindly and hope/pray for enough financial aid and scholarships” method rather than tailoring the application list to maximize the likelihood of good financial aid and scholarship offers (including a guaranteed-affordable safety).</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t find the NPCs that easy to use or find. While I could be doing it wrong, it seems I have to repeatedly enter the same information. Also, while it is not true for me, many parents seem unwilling to share this level of financial disclosure with their children.</p>
<p>Now as a solution, I don’t understand why the college board, who seems to run these NPCs, couldn’t allow you to enter all the financial data once, and assign a “Common Net Price Calculator ID” which could be used to prefill the calculator. </p>
<p>Finally, the universities that do point to a NPC don’t seem to want to encourage a side by side comparison or screen where I request all universities at or below my budget.</p>