How Much Will College Cost?

We have been talking a lot about college on this blog-the application process, scholarship resources etc. We try and find resources that will help students and their parents handle the college process.

One resource that we found out about is the ‘Net Price College Calculator” which gives you a very easy way to calculate what you can expect to pay for college and how much federal financial aid you can expect to receive.

If a college participates in the federal student-aid programs, they are now required by law to provide a “Net Price College Calculator” on their website. The law goes into effect at the end of this month.

Most calculators can be found on the financial aid section of the college website. Some are hard to find, you have to dig around the website a little bit. For example to find the calculator on the University of Texas-Austin website, I had to do the following:

Go to website www.utexas.edu
On Home Page, scroll down the page to the section “Apply Here”
Click on “Financial Aid”
Click on “Quick Links”
Click on “Net Price Calculator”

When you have narrowed down your college choices, make sure to use the calculators to figure out how much you can expect to pay. If you find that you have to pay more than you can afford, don’t hesitate to call the schools and find out what other options are available to you.

Parents can also use this tool to help them plan how much to save for their children’s college costs. The earlier you start saving, the less stressful the college application process will be.