The cost of attending college varies greatly depending on several factors, most notably tuition. Your real cost to attend college or “net price” can vary at each college based on the in-state tuition rate or out-of-state tuition rate for public college and universities, scholarships the college offered you, scholarships you’ve won on your own, transportation costs and more.
With a little diligence, you can figure out the “real” price of attending the colleges you are considering by using a “net price” calculator. Take 20 minutes to figure this out now to save yourself stress and frustration later.
Every college that receives Title IX funding (which is most U.S. colleges) must provide a net price calculator on their website. You can go to an individual college’s website to find this information or look up the exact web address in a spreadsheet provided by the U.S. Department of Education. The spreadsheet can be downloaded at this website, if you scroll to the bottom:
Another way to find out the “net price” is to use one of the tools listed below, all of which are free for students to use. This may be a quicker way to accomplish your task than looking up each college.
Give it a try!