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

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

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

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

4. Net Price Calculator History • August 14, 2008 - 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

5. PurposeP.L. 110-315, 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.

6. 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

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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. Illinois State University Net Price Calculator Location: On the Cost of Attendance page of the Financial Aid website http://financialaid.illinoisstate.edu/prospective/estimator/

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

16. Illinois State University • Statistics • Initial release Fall 2009 • 400 hits • Fall 2010 to Fall 2011 • 4990 hits • 2673 made it to the summary page • Evaluation and Planned Revisions

17. Illinois State University

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

21. 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.

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

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

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

25. University of Chicago • Decision points: • IT resources • Flexibility • IM support • Programming difficulty • Peers

26. University of Chicago • Third-Party Vendor Selection • Talked with peers • Webinars • Conference presentations

27. University of Chicago

28. University of Chicago Net Price Calculator Location: College Board website

29. University of Illinois Net Price Calculator Location: Office of Student Financial Aid Home Page (link also available on all financial aid web pages) http://www.osfa.illinois.edu/aid/ifac/IFAC.asp

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

31. 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

32. University of Illinois

33. University of Illinois

34. University of Illinois

35. University of Illinois

36. Net Price Calculator Resource Center • http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/resource/net_price_calculator.asp • http://airweb.org/page.asp?page=2106

37. Questions? / Discussion!