There are two questions every prospective student asks when they are thinking about where to go to college:

- Can I get in?

- Can I afford it?

The first is hard to answer for anyone.  There are a myriad of factors that impact admissions and countless surprises along the way.  While there are websites that say they have the answers, consultants that promise to help students get in, school guidance counselors who offer suggestions and formulas that students try to use to figure it all out, in the end there is no real way to know if you will get in….until you do or you don’t.

For years, the second question felt unanswerable too.  The cost of college listed on a website is quite often impossibly high and financial aid can be hard to understand. Many students and their families are hopeful about the amount of aid they might get, but not at all certain how to know what the amount might be.  In a recent study by Fidelity, one-third of parents said they weren’t sure what the price of college would be and 55% said they were going to use their own “best guess” to figure it out. 

Without knowing the cost, it is incredibly hard to save and to plan.  Families found themselves worried that if their student does get in they will be unable to afford the school and frustrated that they don’t have something better than their best guess. This uncertainty can add layers of stress to everyone, often leading students to second-guess their college dreams or eliminate options before they’ve fully explored them.

Which is why net price calculators matter.

While packaging financial aid will never be easy - communicating about it to students doesn’t have to be hard. An accurate, personalized, net price calculator can answer that question for a student. When you show them the aid they can get, not just federal and state but also institutional, students will know: yes I can. Suddenly, college becomes not just a possibility but a tangible goal.

To reduce the uncertainty and ease the stress, financial aid leaders in colleges and universities need to both make sure they have an NPC that accurately reflects all of the aid (including the scholarships based on grades, scores, high schools, and beyond) and make sure students know about it. They need to build it and they need to share it (for tips on how to market your NPC, check this out!)

This is not the time for an NPC that only meets a compliance requirement - it is the time for an NPC that meets the needs of students.

In a world where the future often feels uncertain, the ability to answer, "Can I afford it?" with confidence can change everything. It is the difference between choosing to apply and choosing to give up before even trying.

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