Improve Communication about College Cost and Value

Determining how much a student will pay for college - and how much they will benefit from the investment - is a critical step in taking the leap to attend. But too often it's hard for students to get straightforward answers. Financial aid award letters can be hard to decipher and compare to other offers. They can characterize loans as “awards,” fail to explain what “work-study” requires, and obscure the bottom line.

Net price calculators can help students approximate the cost in advance, but they aren't always easy to locate or use on institutions' websites. Cost of attendance calculations for students living off campus vary widely depending on each college's methodology. As a result, students often face unexpected costs that they may not be able to cover.

Students need and deserve clarity – about how much they will receive in grant funding, how much they will need to take out in loans, and how much they will pay out of pocket.  

NCAN supports:

• Standardizing the terms and definitions of all financial aid communication, providing students with this important information in a quick and easy-to-read format.
• Creating a standardized methodology for determining the cost of non-tuition expenses.
• Updating the College Scorecard to include key outcomes data on postsecondary programs for all students.

Resources:

• New America and uAspire report - Decoding the Cost of College: The Case for Transparent Financial Aid Award Letters
• NCAN response to Chairman Cassidy's request for information on college cost transparency