I’ve run the net price calculator more times than I can count, and I’m SO glad there’s a way to get at least a ballpark sense of what different colleges might cost. But one thing confuses me: Some colleges don’t include any loan amount at all, others include the full $5500 (subsidized) loan amount, while others include a different amount (in our case, $3500, $1750, $4328…).
Is this a function of our EFC, maybe? I’m guessing that the zero-loan results might be from schools that promise to cover 100% of EFC without loans, but I’m not sure why the other results differ so much.
Also, even if the school doesn’t include a loan in the net calculator, can the student still take out the full amount? If, say, our EFC is around $20K, but we want our son to cover $5500 of that with a loan, that’s fine, right?
Sorry for the possibly ignorant questions–first time through all of this.
Just found the answer to my second question in the small print of U Chicago’s NPC:
“Most students are eligible to borrow $5,500 in low cost, government student loans through the Direct Loan Program. If you are not required to borrow as part of your financial aid determination, it doesn’t mean that you can’t borrow.”
There is no ‘standard’ for NPC. The schools can include merit awards, only loans, only subsidized loans, state awards…whatever they want. Some include parent PLUS loans. You have to read the NPC carefully to know what it is covering.
Only $3500 of the freshman loan is subsidize ($2000 each year is not subsidized) so that’s why you may be seeing the $3500 number, or $1750 for a semester.
Schools don’t promise to cover any part of EFC. The student and the student’s family are expected to pay the EFC (you know, Expected Family Contribution). Need-based financial is used to cover some or all of the difference between COA (cost of attendance) and the EFC.
Oh right, @BelknapPoint – I meant to write “schools that promise to cover 100% after EFC…”
The calculator for UMichigan (in-state), for example, came up with $21,228 for the estimated price, then deduced $4328 for a loan and $3000 for student work to get to an estimated remaining cost of $13,900. I wondered if the odd loan amount might be because my EFC (as they calculate it) is $13,900?
What’s strange is that I re-did the calculator with some more accurate (higher) estimates of my 2017 tax numbers and got this:
Net Price $25,207
Stu work $3000
Loan $4328
Total $17,879
Anyway, not a big deal, I guess, but it’s confusing.
there is no such policy. There are schools that meet 100% demonstrated need. Even then, the school determines your need, which can be different from your EFC.
The net price is basically what it is going to cost the family after aid has been applied. Then there are recommendations on how you fulfill the net price.
Thanks, @twoinanddone and @sybbie719. As I said, I’m new at this–it took me a second to figure out what “COA” meant, for example. I get it, though, that COA minus EFC doesn’t necessarily = “demonstrated need,” since each college will do its own math. (In fact I’ve also noticed how different their numbers for things like transportation ($1050 for Northwestern, $0 for MIT? Are MIT students too busy to ever fly home for vacation?
I have a separate spreadsheet for pricing. It has columns for tuition, room and board, and grant aid. Add the first two, subtract the second, and the result is what I’ve been using to determine affordability.
This after seeing some NPC that put in a parent-level loan of ~$30k above the line, resulting in a “net price” of zero.
When a school calculates its own EFC for an applicant/student, COA minus EFC (as calculated by the school) most certainly does determine demonstrated need.
Without a doubt, there is a steep leaning curve for any parent working through the college selection and financing maze for the first time. The fact that there are different kinds of EFC (FAFSA and institutional) and the confusion that comes when applying that term to the FAFSA calculation result do not help the matter.
