The simple trick is to calculate the percentage (that you’ll be paying) of the Total Cost of Attendance. Do this for each college and then compare all percentages for all colleges. This will give a better image of how one’s Family Contribution is better than the contribution that you’ll be paying for another school in terms of percentages.
EXAMPLE:
School A:
Total Cost of Attendance: $60,000
Family Contribution: $4,000
Percent that you’ll pay: 4,000/60,000 = 13%
School B:
Total Cost of Attendance: $52,000
Family Contribution: $20,00
Percent that you’ll pay: 20,000/52,000 = 38%
Perspective: Even though School A is more pricey, you’ll pay less.
Don’t rely entirely on this trick because you do have to consider other factors (type of school, loans, work-study, and location, graduation, job offers, etc) that no one will consider for you but yourself. This is just to better the image if you’re having trouble deciding how much you’ll pay comparably.
If you have other suggestions about comparing Packages, feel free.