What “net price” means
The sticker price is what a college publishes. The net price is closer to what a family like yours paid.
What the net price is
The net price is the cost of attendance minus grant and scholarship aid — the federal, state and college aid that does not have to be repaid. Loans and work-study are not subtracted: they are ways to cover the net price, not reductions of it.
The U.S. Department of Education publishes a net price for most colleges that take federal student aid. The College Scorecard reports it as an average over students who received federal financial aid, and for public colleges it is the in-state figure.
Average net price by family income
Grants scale with family income, so one average would hide most of the story. The Scorecard reports an average net price for each of five household income bands, from under $30,000 to over $110,000, and those are the bands the college pages on this site show. When grants exceeded the cost of attendance, the average comes out at or below zero — the page prints $0 and says aid covered the full cost.
Each figure is an average of past students who received federal aid at that college. It is not a quote. A family’s own cost could come out higher or lower, and the college’s aid offer is the only number that is final.
Net price, sticker price and the SAI
Three numbers, three jobs. The sticker price is the published cost of attendance — the ceiling. The Student Aid Index (SAI) is the eligibility index the FAFSA computes from a family’s finances; it is not a price, and it is not what a family pays. The net price is what families in an income band actually paid on average after grants.
A college with a high sticker price can have a low net price for lower-income families, and a college with a modest sticker price can have a net price close to it. Comparing on sticker price alone rules out colleges that could cost less than the local option. You can estimate your SAI before you file, no account needed.
Every college has a net price calculator
Federal law requires every college that takes federal student aid and enrolls full-time first-year undergraduates to post a net price calculator on its website — the National Center for Education Statistics explains the requirement. It gives an estimate for your family’s numbers under that college’s own aid policies.
The two tools answer different questions. The published averages show the pattern: what families like yours paid at that college. The college’s calculator shows an individual estimate. Both are estimates; the aid offer, after the FAFSA, is the real number.
What a family can do with it
Look up the average net price for your income band at every college on your student’s list — by state or by college. Run each college’s net price calculator with your own figures. File the FAFSA. When the offers arrive, compare them on net price, not on the size of the aid package: a bigger package that is mostly loans can still be the more expensive college.
If your finances changed after you filed, the financial aid office can review your circumstances; if another college offered more, you can ask. Which strategies could lower your number, which scholarships fit your student, and what to say when you appeal — that is the work families pay a private counselor thousands for. It is what My School Advisor does, for $15 a month.
Where to take this next
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