What Financial Aid Offers Don’t Tell You About the Cost of College
April 4, 2023
Opening college financial aid offers can be a moment of both excitement and confusion for students and their families. As College Decision Day approaches on May 1, families are looking for a bottom line price tag they can use to determine whether they can afford college and to compare competing offers.
We recently examined financial aid offers from colleges across the U.S. and found that most do not provide the important information students need about the cost of attending college. Today’s WatchBlog post looks at our report on financial aid offers, and what students need to know when making their college decision.
What financial aid offers should include about college costs
We estimated 91% of colleges do not provide students accurate information in their financial aid offers about how much they will have to pay to attend their school. According to best practices developed by financial literacy experts, colleges should include a net price—a price tag that tells students how much they will need to pay to attend that college. To do this, they should include all key costs and subtract only grants and scholarships. Many colleges do not include information on books, off-campus housing and meals, and other living expenses in their financial aid offers. They also make their net price seem cheaper by factoring in loans that students will eventually have to repay. And about a quarter of colleges don’t include any information on tuition and fees.
