In accordance with the Higher Education Act, every college and university in the United States that participates in federal student aid programs must make a Net Price Calculator available on its website.
Each school’s Net Price Calculator, sometimes referred to as NPC, uses institutional data to provide estimated net price information to current and prospective students and their families based on a student’s individual circumstances.
The goal is to help students and parents have a better idea of the total costs of attending college and the “Net Price” after deducting anticipated grants and other financial aid.
Schools are required to provide estimated information to each inquiry regarding the following:
- Estimated total price of attendance
- Estimated tuition and fees
- Estimated room and board
- Estimated books and supplies
- Estimated other expenses (personal expenses, transportation, etc.)
- Estimated total grant aid
- Estimated net price
- Percent of the cohort (full-time, first-time students) that received grant aid
- Caveats and disclaimers, as indicated in the Higher Education Act
Students should expect to spend approximately 15 minutes to complete the net price calculator process.
In order to generate more accurate results and speed up the time it takes to complete the NPC, have the following information handy when using the NPC:
- Student and parent prior year taxes
- Earnings statements (student and parent)
- Bank statements (student and parent)
- Student Academic Information: GPA, Standardized Test Scores, High School Rank
- Amount of any outside scholarships received
You can still use the calculator without these. However, if you use estimated information, the results may not be accurate.