Guide
Net Price vs Sticker Price
Sticker price is what a college advertises. Net price is what your family actually pays after grants and scholarships are applied. The gap between the two is often large.
Net price is what you pay after subtracting grants and scholarships from a college's full published cost. Because grant aid varies by family, net price differs for every student. The only way to estimate your net price is to run a school's net price calculator or request a breakdown directly from the financial aid office.
Sticker price — the number a college publishes as its cost of attendance — is almost never what most families pay. Grants and scholarships reduce that figure to produce a net price that is specific to your family's finances, the school's aid policy, and the year you enroll. Understanding the difference between these two numbers is the starting point for any honest comparison of college costs.
This section groups its pages around the full arc of how families work with net price: what it is and how it is calculated, where to find reliable estimates and why those estimates sometimes mislead, how to compare net prices across a shortlist, and how net price can shift after freshman year or when merit aid is involved. Each of those questions has its own page because each has its own complications.
If you are just starting out, begin with the plain-English guide and the terms page to build a shared vocabulary, then move to the net price calculator pages before you look at any school-by-school comparisons. Families who are further along — already holding estimates from several schools — will find the comparison, verification, and checklist pages most useful.
What you need to understand first
Cost of attendance vs net price
Cost of attendance is the full published figure a college uses, covering tuition, fees, housing, meals, books, and other allowances. Net price subtracts only grants and scholarships — money you do not repay — from that total. Loans and work-study are not subtracted, because you either repay or earn them. The gap between the two numbers depends entirely on how much grant aid a given school offers a given student.
Why net price is personal
Two students at the same school in the same year can have very different net prices. Institutional grant aid is awarded based on a school's own formula, which weighs family income, assets, household size, and sometimes academic profile. Because each school runs its own formula, the same family can receive different net prices from schools with identical sticker prices. This is why comparing net prices — not sticker prices — is the only meaningful way to rank affordability.
Net price calculators
Federal law requires every college that participates in federal aid programs to publish a net price calculator on its website. The calculator asks about income, assets, and household details, then returns an estimate. The accuracy of that estimate varies: some calculators reflect a school's actual aid formulas closely, while others produce figures that differ from real award letters. The pages in this section explain how to use calculators well and how to spot when a result is likely to mislead you.
The July 2026 FAFSA rule change
A significant revision to the federal aid formula took effect for the award year beginning July 2026. Students who enrolled before that date and students who enroll on or after it are subject to different underlying calculations, which means net price estimates drawn from different award years may not be directly comparable. When you use any calculator or published average, confirm which formula version the data reflects and which one applies to you.
Average net price vs your net price
Colleges report an average net price to the federal government, and that figure appears in the College Scorecard and similar tools. Because it is an average across all aided students, it can obscure wide variation. A school with a low average net price may achieve that average mainly through deep aid to low-income students, while families in the middle-income range pay considerably more. Your estimated net price, based on your own financial profile, is the only figure that matters for your decision.
How net price can change over time
The net price a school estimates before you enroll may not hold for all four years. Merit aid awards sometimes carry GPA requirements that, if not met, reduce the grant. Institutional aid policies can change. Your family's financial situation can change, altering need-based awards when you file each year. This section includes a dedicated page on how net price shifts after freshman year so you can build a realistic multi-year cost picture before committing.