We believe that the smartest college choices are made when individuals are well informed and understand ahead of time the net price of going to college. To enable higher education institutions to better inform and attract students, StudentAid.com licenses its ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ to colleges and universities. Our sophisticated technology offers institutions a flexible, accurate technology platform that is customized to their needs.

The output students receive from our calculator shows net price and resources such as loans and work-study that fully inform students about the affordability of your college.

During the three years of developing our second-generation ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™, we have tested our service on 25 million test cases and with more than 28,000 real families to ensure accuracy.

To review information on our:

  1. Net price calculator technology available for licensing to colleges, click here.
  2. College Cost & Planning Report™ or the services offered at StudentAid.com, click here.

The ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™: a better net price calculator

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 mandates that all institutions receiving Title IV funds post on their websites a net price calculator for prospective students by October 2011. Our ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ provides prospective students with highly personalized and reliable net price estimates based on their unique academic and financial circumstances.

Learn more about our capabilities by contacting our College Relations group via email at colleges@studentaid.com or by calling 877-987-5079.

Here is what makes our net cost calculator different:

  • Flexible Implementation
    Each net price calculator that we implement is customized to meet your specific needs. You have the option to adjust the style, number of questions, and output screen content that prospective students will see. Our output can show not only net price but also a student's upfront out-of-pocket costs by providing work-study and loan availability as resources that can reduce net price and improve affordability. If you are a college that uses institutional methodology (IM) to award aid, we can quickly create a custom calculator to match your unique requirements. Our calculator can fit seamlessly into your current website, or we can host it on an external website.
  • User-friendly Features
    We provide an intuitive experience that quickly guides students through questions and presents a professional impression of your college. We help your prospective students both understand and answer student aid questions that tend be confusing. We encourage you to experience firsthand the user-friendly features of our service by requesting a demonstration.
  • Accuracy
    Our ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ gives prospective students and their families the most realistic estimation of their net price of college. We don't use 'averages' or 'ranges' to calculate an individual's net price estimate.
  • Eligibility Evaluation
    Our technology evaluates a student’s eligibility for student aid programs based on his or her specific personal circumstances. For example, students who haven’t completed a rigorous secondary school program of study won’t be considered for an Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG). If your college is in California, we ensure that state residents who don’t meet the appropriate income and asset ceilings and GPA requirements won’t be considered for a CAL Grant. If your college has specific program eligibility requirements, we can customize your calculator accordingly.
  • Customized Packaging
    - No matter what type of packaging technique you use, we can provide a ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ that is customized to reflect your college’s approach to enrollment and financial aid. We work with your financial aid administrators to calibrate your college calculator and ensure that estimates provided to prospective students are reliable and representative of the aid award letter that each admitted student will receive in the spring prior to matriculation.
  • Proven technology
    With 25 million student case studies and 38,000 real college-bound families, our ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ the most proven net price calculator available to colleges and universities.
  • It's more than a net price calculator!
    Complying with the requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 is just a starting point. Your custom ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ is a powerful recruiting, communication, and lead-generation tool. Be sure to talk to one of our representatives about how our technologies can improve your enrollment management and financial aid operations.

To schedule a demonstration of our technologies or to learn more about our capabilities, please contact our College Relations Team via e-mail at colleges@studentaid.com or by calling 877-987-5079.

Helping prospective students with a College Cost & Planning Report™

At StudentAid.com, a prospective student can order a personalized College Cost & Planning Report to help with his or her college planning. Our goal is to provide prospective students interested in your college with the most accurate and comprehensive information available. As part of our commitment to increasing college Access for All™, we provide our services free of charge to Pell–eligible students from families with an income of less than $40,000.

We welcome the involvement and input of college admission and financial aid offices to help us in this mission, and we gladly let every college update its extensive profile of information that we provide to all of the students we assist. Your college’s specific information includes:

  • General information, such as address, telephone numbers, and enrollment statistics
  • Cost of attendance figures
  • Student demographic data
  • Admissions, retention, and graduation statistics
  • "Did You Know?" facts—more colorful information that highlights your college's unique attributes and helps to inform students about the personality, character, and type of experience offered

Many colleges have provided us their student aid eligibility programs so the information provided to prospective students is as accurate as possible. By working closely with your financial aid administrators, we can incorporate your college's aid eligibility requirements and packaging policies to ensure that the information we provide to students is as accurate as possible.

Specifically, we can update our ThinkAhead Net Price Calculator™ algorithms to:

  • Determine eligibility and likely award estimates for your college-specific grants and scholarships
  • Integrate loan limits and tuition discounts into award estimates
  • Use your college's packaging method when calculating awards

Contact our College Relations Team

If you have questions or comments, or if you would like more information about how we can build you a best-in-class net price calculator, e-mail us at colleges@studentaid.com or call 877-987-5079.

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