The sticker price is not the real price.
The big number on a college's website is rarely what students pay. Enter the sticker price and the aid in the picture to see the real net price, and a rough shape of what repaying any loans could look like.
Tuition and fees plus room and board, before any aid.
Gift aid you do not repay. This is what makes the price lower.
What you and your family expect to pay from income or savings.
Money you borrow and repay later, with interest.
$20,000
The sticker price is $38,000. Grants and scholarships of $18,000 come off the top, about 47% of the sticker. The sticker price is not the real price.
After gift aid, family contribution, and loans, about $3,000 of this year is still unpaid. That gap usually has to be closed with more aid, more savings, or more borrowing.
This is the shape for borrowing $9,000 for one year of school and repaying it over 10 years at a fixed 6.53% rate. Borrowing the same each year for a full degree would multiply these numbers. Real student loan rates and terms vary; this is a rough illustration.
All figures are illustrative estimates for learning. See the assumptions below.
Sticker price is the published cost of attending: tuition and fees plus room and board. Very few students pay it in full.
Gift aid is grants and scholarships you do not repay. Subtract it from the sticker price and you get the net price, the amount you actually have to cover. That is the number worth comparing between schools.
What the net price is not covered by gift aid usually comes from family contribution, savings, and loans, which you repay later with interest. The repayment shape below shows roughly what paying back the loans could feel like month to month.
Illustrative estimate. Real costs and aid vary widely.
- Net price is simply the sticker price minus gift aid for one year. Aid often changes year to year, so a four-year total is not just this number times four.
- The loan repayment shape uses the standard fixed-payment formula for the amount borrowed over a 10-year term at a fixed 6.53% rate, shown as a rough illustration. Real student loan rates and terms differ, and federal and private loans work differently.
- The repayment figures cover only the loan amount you enter for one year. Borrowing each year for a full degree would multiply them.
- This tool does not estimate your actual aid eligibility. Each school publishes a net price calculator for that.