I noticed for several schools that we’re considering that the initial MyIntuition shows a Best net price that’s substantially lower than the NPC price. Basically the NPC says we’re paying sticker price while MyIntuition predicts 30k in aid. Even the high number shows $20k in aid, which is doable.
I realize that we’re supposed to use the NPC number as our basis, but I wanted to see if people had experience with which is actually closer to correct. If the NPC price is more likely than we’d probably move the school to RD, whereas if the MyIntuition is closer even at high, then we’d be comfortable trying ED.
Note that MyinTuition does not actually state a Net Price explicitly. To get Net Price you need to add three numbers:
Net Price equals Student and Parent Contribution plus Expected Student Loan plus Student Employment.
So do that before making a comparison.
It’s true that an NPC may have more questions, so in pricipal could be more precise, but in practice, often the biggest factor in Net Price is how a college treats home equity as an asset, either counting none of it, or counting all of it, or capping it at a certain multiple of income. I have seen instances where a college’s NPC, and its MyinTuition, treat home equity differently (and both different to what the college actually does), and so either one could be more accurate, depending how home equity treatment is configured.
To be confident in a college’s NPC or MyinTuition, you need to know how the college treats home equity, and you need to know if the calculator has been correctly configured for this.
That is just a mistake by whoever at the school is in charge of making sure these tools are accurate. With that said, I am sure NPCs and Myintuition accuracy are sadly the last thing on Financial aid peeps to-do-lists right now.
The ranges that MyIntuition give are really unhelpful, especially for people who need significant aid.
If you want some suggestions about what schools might be affordable on your budget, there are lots of parents on CC with lots of experience and knowledge. They might be able to point you to other schools that might work for your child.
If you’re interested in that - you can make a new thread sharing your child’s basic stats, what they are looking for in a school, and your budget.
Funny you mention this! I had noticed the pretty substantial differences in MyIntuition numbers based on how each school treated home equity. What’s funny is that I was looking at Brown and noted that they don’t count home equity as an asset for calculation. It’s actually a school that ended up providing a lot more aid on MyIntuition versus their NPC calculator. That’s why I was surprised. Other schools that do consider home equity actually have us receiving less aid, as would be expected. BUT, in all cases the MyIntuition number always shows a lower net price versus the NPC.
Thanks for this! Actually, we’re in New Jersey, so the benchmark for pricing is Rutgers. So, I’m looking essentially at how much MORE something would potentially cost than Rutgers. And we’re very early in the process right now - I’m just gathering data so that I know what to expect. We’re not in a full chasing merit mindset yet, but trying to see what the options are. What IS interesting is that I’d say that most private colleges at full price will be an automatic out given that we wouldn’t expect to get much need-based aid per the NPCs.
If you are inputting correctly into the NPC (i.e. not a “wave my hands estimate” of your income, but actual numbers) and are careful with decimal points, I’d trust those numbers (even if they make you sad) a lot more than MyinTuition which most people I know have found wildly optimistic by the time the actual fin aid package arrives.
Ah, sorry - meant to respond to this. Actually, I’m building my own spreadsheet and essentially ONLY looking at the number that shows up for need-based scholarships. I am ignoring student contribution, student loans, etc. And then I’ve built my own spreadsheet using tuition, room & board, and fees. One issue I was having was that schools were including things like travel and personal expenses in the numbers and these numbers could vary significantly. My goal was to take the direct costs and subtract out the need-based scholarship to get to a more comparable price.
That’s what I did when comparing my kids’ aid offers. Direct costs only, “free” aid only (grants & scholarships).
One thing that always surprised me when I worked with students to compare aid offers was that so many simply focused on the size of the scholarship/grant offered. You have to determine the direct costs (tuition, room & board, fees) and subtract the amount of the free aid (scholarships and grants). Only after doing that can you compare apples to apples.