Net Price Calculator: Developing a Tool That Works for You and Your Students

Net Price Calculator:

Developing a Tool That Works for You and Your

Students

Presenters

• Jana Albrecht– Illinois State University

• Kim Donat – Indiana State University

• Amanda Fijal– University of Chicago

• Dan Mann– University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Overview

• Background of Net Price Calculator Regulations

• Net Price Calculator Requirements

• Approaches from Four Schools

Net Price Calculator History

• August 14, 2008 - HEOA was signed and included a requirement that every institution have a Net Price Calculator

• October 29, 2009 – U.S. Department of Education/NCES released their Net Price Calculator Template

• October 29, 2011 – Deadline for institutions to post their Net Price Calculator on their websites

PurposeP.L. 110-315, sec. 132(h)(1)

A Net Price Calculator is intended to help current and prospective students, families, and other consumers estimate the individual net price of an institution of higher education for a student. The calculator shall be developed in a manner that enables current and prospective students, families, and consumers to determine an estimate of a current or prospective student’s individual net price at a particular institution.

What is Net Price?

Cost of Attendance for FTFT students(tuition/fees, room/board, books/supplies, & other expenses including transportation)

- Total federal, state, and institutional grants awarded to FTFT students/Number of FTFT students receiving such aid (Does not include private/outside grants)

= Net Price

Net Price Calculator Requirements

Required only if you have full-time, first-time, undergraduate students

Net Price Calculator Requirements

• Institutions may use either the Net Price Calculator developed by the Department of Education, use a third-party vendor or other template, or develop their own calculator

• At a minimum, institutional and third-party developed calculators must include the same data elements found in the Department of Education calculator

Net Price Calculator Requirements

• Minimum NPC input elements (should try to approximate EFC):– Income– Number in Family– Dependency Status

• Institution may use Federal Methodology (FM) or Institutional Methodology (IM)to approximate the EFC

Net Price Calculator Requirements

• Minimum NPC output elements:– Estimated total price of attendance

• Total tuition and fees• Total room and board• Total books and supplies• Total other expenses

– Estimated total grant aid– Estimated net price– Percent of cohort that received gift aid– Caveats and disclaimers

Things to Do/Consider

• Educate yourself and others on the Net Price Calculator requirements and options

• Review your data and consider the complexity of your data

• Look at your IPEDS Report

• Think about what will make the most sense to your students and parents

Things to Do/Consider

• Inform other offices about the Net Price Calculator requirement

– Institutional Research– Admissions– Registrar– Information Technology– Public Affairs– Colleges and Departments

Institutional Approaches

• Use Federal Template– Illinois State University

• Use Third Party Vendor– Indiana State University– University of Chicago

• Build Your Own Calculator– University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign

Illinois State University

Net Price Calculator Location: On the Cost of Attendance page of the Financial Aid website http://financialaid.illinoisstate.edu/prospective/estimator/

Illinois State University

• Steps in our selection process:– Meetings/Discussions

• Needs of our students• Time, Resources, Money• Admissions and EMAS opinion

– Decision/Plan

Illinois State University

• Statistics– Initial release Fall 2009

•400 hits– Fall 2010 to Fall 2011

•4990 hits•2673 made it to the summary

page

• Evaluation and Planned Revisions

Illinois State University

Indiana State University

Net Price Calculator Location:

Located in three places: ISU home page

Financial Aid websiteAdmissions website

Indiana State University

ISU began with a generic product.

It didn’t provide the calcs that we were interested in seeing.

Needed a more complete package.

Indiana State University

Goals for ISU Calculator Meet the NPC requirement

Provide student information - Indiana scholarships - ISU scholarships - Veterans resources

Indiana State University

Ultimate Goal: Provide NPC data and use as a

recruiting tool

- Honors program - Honors prospectus

University of Chicago

Net Price Calculator Location:

Admissions website, Cost & Aid page for prospective student: https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/apply/calculate.shtml

University of Chicago

• Decision points:– IT resources– Flexibility– IM support– Programming difficulty– Peers

University of Chicago

• Third-Party Vendor Selection– Talked with peers– Webinars– Conference presentations

University of Chicago

University of Chicago

Net Price Calculator Location:

College Board website

University of Illinois

Net Price Calculator Location: Office of Student Financial Aid Home Page (link also available on all financial aid web pages)

http://www.osfa.illinois.edu/aid/ifac/IFAC.asp

University of Illinois

Enhancements made to our calculator:•Added independent calculation•Added disclaimers•Revamped Output Page•Added Google Analytics

University of Illinois

• Complex tuition/fee structure and costs

• Average information did not provide an accurate representation for students and families

• Already had a successful home-built calculator

University of Illinois

University of Illinois

University of Illinois

University of Illinois

Net Price Calculator Resource Center

• http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/resource/net_price_calculator.asp

• http://airweb.org/page.asp?page=2106

Questions? / Discussion!