College costs vary, often significantly. Every college in the United States is legal obligated to provide a reasonably accurate and confidential forecasting tool for projecting expected true costs for families. Look for it on each college's financial aid page or on each college's "costs" page on BigFuture.
Applying for Financial Aid
FAFSA - Federal Student Aid- Application for federal financial aid, which “opens” for use on October 1 of each year.
Note: The FAFSA uses tax return information from “prior prior” years, which essentially means financial data from two years ago. This makes the FAFSA cycle twenty months long, and opens up starting the process as early as a student’s junior year.
Families that have had significant changes in income in those interim two years can work directly with college financial aid offices to adjust estimated family contributions. Advocacy can be well worth your effort.
CSS Profile - Administered by the College Board, this is an additional form sometimes required by private colleges in addition to FAFSA.
Check college financial aid webpages to determine whether you will also need to complete the CSS.
Fee waivers are available to families that have received previous College Board fee waivers (e.g. for SAT and AP exams)
The CSS asks additional questions to gauge not just family income but family expenses in order to get a fuller portrait of a family’s true financial need.
Financial Aid Tool Kit
Estimate FAFSA Aid. A forecasting tool that provides an early estimate of your Estimated Family Contribution (EDC) and your eligibility for federal student aid. This information helps families plan ahead for college. It is recommended not just for families of juniors but also middle schoolers wanting an understanding of the often complex financial aid landscape.
Conversations around paying for college often involve a lot of unfamiliar terms and acronyms. Because one might not be enough, here are two of the best glossaries out there:
The Net Price Calculator (NPC). The Federal Government requires all colleges and universities to provide an online calculator programmed to demonstrate to families likely financial aid awards and estimated family costs for their institutions. You can find it on the financial aid webpage for any school you search.
College Results Online. The Education Trust. (This is the best site for comparing four year and six year graduation rates, which can affect the true cost of college.)
Loan Simulator. A forecasting tool from the Department of Education.
External Scholarships Students can sometimes benefit from pursuing relevant external scholarships to offset the costs of college. A scholarship is considered “external” when the funds come from an organization outside the student’s college or university. Scholarship winners and families should work with college financial aid offices to determine how the scholarship impacts the student’s financial aid package. Some colleges adjust their institutional aid, while others assume the external scholarship helps “close the gap” in covering expenses otherwise not covered by other grants and scholarships. Each college has its own best practices, and it is important to know what they are and they might be navigated.