Net Price Calculator: Developing a Tool That Works for You and Your Students

Presenters Jana Albrecht –Illinois State University Kim Donat –Indiana State University Amanda Fijal –University of Chicago Dan Mann –University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Overview Background of Net Price Calculator Regulations Net Price Calculator Requirements Approaches from Four Schools

Net Price Calculator History August 14, HEOA was signed and included a requirement that every institution have a Net Price Calculator October 29, 2009 – U.S. Department of Education/NCES released their Net Price Calculator Template October 29, 2011 – Deadline for institutions to post their Net Price Calculator on their websites

Purpose P.L , sec. 132(h)(1) A Net Price Calculator is intended to help current and prospective students, families, and other consumers estimate the individual net price of an institution of higher education for a student. The calculator shall be developed in a manner that enables current and prospective students, families, and consumers to determine an estimate of a current or prospective student’s individual net price at a particular institution.

What is Net Price? Cost of Attendance for FTFT students (tuition/fees, room/board, books/supplies, & other expenses including transportation) -Total federal, state, and institutional grants awarded to FTFT students/Number of FTFT students receiving such aid (Does not include private/outside grants) =Net Price

Net Price Calculator Requirements Required only if you have full-time, first-time, undergraduate students

Net Price Calculator Requirements Institutions may use either the Net Price Calculator developed by the Department of Education, use a third-party vendor or other template, or develop their own calculator At a minimum, institutional and third-party developed calculators must include the same data elements found in the Department of Education calculator

Net Price Calculator Requirements Minimum NPC input elements (should try to approximate EFC): –Income –Number in Family –Dependency Status Institution may use Federal Methodology (FM) or Institutional Methodology (IM) to approximate the EFC

Net Price Calculator Requirements Minimum NPC output elements: –Estimated total price of attendance Total tuition and fees Total room and board Total books and supplies Total other expenses –Estimated total grant aid –Estimated net price –Percent of cohort that received gift aid –Caveats and disclaimers

Things to Do/Consider Educate yourself and others on the Net Price Calculator requirements and options Review your data and consider the complexity of your data Look at your IPEDS Report Think about what will make the most sense to your students and parents

Things to Do/Consider Inform other offices about the Net Price Calculator requirement –Institutional Research –Admissions –Registrar –Information Technology –Public Affairs –Colleges and Departments

Institutional Approaches Use Federal Template –Illinois State University Use Third Party Vendor –Indiana State University –University of Chicago Build Your Own Calculator –University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign

Illinois State University Net Price Calculator Location: On the Cost of Attendance page of the Financial Aid website

Illinois State University Steps in our selection process: –Meetings/Discussions Needs of our students Time, Resources, Money Admissions and EMAS opinion –Decision/Plan

Illinois State University Statistics –Initial release Fall hits –Fall 2010 to Fall hits 2673 made it to the summary page Evaluation and Planned Revisions

Illinois State University

Indiana State University Net Price Calculator Location: Located in three places: ISU home page Financial Aid website Admissions website

Indiana State University ISU began with a generic product. It didn’t provide the calcs that we were interested in seeing. Needed a more complete package.

Indiana State University Goals for ISU Calculator Meet the NPC requirement Provide student information - Indiana scholarships - ISU scholarships - Veterans resources

Indiana State University Ultimate Goal: Provide NPC data and use as a recruiting tool - Honors program - Honors prospectus

University of Chicago Net Price Calculator Location: Admissions website, Cost & Aid page for prospective student: du/costs/apply/calculate.shtml du/costs/apply/calculate.shtml

University of Chicago Decision points: –IT resources –Flexibility –IM support –Programming difficulty –Peers

University of Chicago Third-Party Vendor Selection –Talked with peers –Webinars –Conference presentations

University of Chicago

Net Price Calculator Location: College Board website

University of Illinois Net Price Calculator Location: Office of Student Financial Aid Home Page (link also available on all financial aid web pages)

University of Illinois Enhancements made to our calculator: Added independent calculation Added disclaimers Revamped Output Page Added Google Analytics

University of Illinois Complex tuition/fee structure and costs Average information did not provide an accurate representation for students and families Already had a successful home- built calculator

University of Illinois

Net Price Calculator Resource Center net_price_calculator.asphttp://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/resource/ net_price_calculator.asp 106http://airweb.org/page.asp?page=2 106

Questions? / Discussion!