Finding the REAL Cost of College - My Story

Last month, my wife and I put my youngest daughter into College. She’s doing well, but that act closed a period in our lives that was exciting, frustrating, exhausting, and exhilarating. And while her High School journey has ended, for many families with College bound students, it is either just beginning, or ramping up to critical mass.

One of the benefits I had was a tool provided by a friend and client partner at the time. It was an ungodly complicated spreadsheet he developed that had a unique capability: It matched my daughter with Colleges based on her capabilities and their specific admissions criteria. While there are lots of services that help kids with College admissions, I’d never seen one that so effectively (and easily) evaluated her skills and then identified the schools that were seeking students like her.

The truth is that because she was a fairly good student (top 30 or her HS class) she was able to get into just about any school. Many will look at that as an embarrassment of riches, however the challenges were real. She was stressed trying to reduce her list of options while trying to decide which schools would challenge but not overwhelm her.

We were well aware that over 50% of incoming freshmen do NOT finish College in 4 years. And my admissions expert friend was quick to point out that not only are additional years of school costly, they also come with zero financial aid. So, picking a school that might admit my daughter but was not an ideal educational fit could create devastating educational and financial impacts.

And the financial impact didn’t end there. While many friends and conventional wisdom was saying ‘Make sure to include “stretch” schools in your search’, this tool made it quickly clear that “stretch” schools - schools where my daughter did not rate in the top 25% of incoming students - offered significantly less financial support. Now financial support is a whole different topic of confusion with terms like EFC, FAFSA, financial need, and gifting. And each school has its own policy for awarding financial aid making true price comparisons nearly impossible.

As an example, she was looking at one private school with a cost of attendance (COA) close to $70,000 a year. This is a great out-of-state school and she was a good candidate for admission. For us as parents, however, that kind of money was beyond our means - at least we thought it was. Especially when compared to in-state schools with costs closer to $25,000 a year. As a parent, it is very difficult to look at your kid who has worked hard to get good grades and tell her ‘well, that in-state school is just as good’.

Luckily, for us, the software showed us the true story. Our expected family contribution required us to pay at least $20,000 before any aid from the school could be applied. That meant the schools could help us bridge the gap with financial aid between our contribution and the total cost. For the elite school that gap was $50,000. For the in-state option, it was $5,000.

The math was still pretty obvious, until the software showed us the true story. The out-of-state elite school offered gifting up to 95% of need. That meant they’d provide a grant for over $47,000 assuming we fit their profile, which dropped the actual cost (for us) from $70,000/year to $23,000/year. The state school offered 50% gifting (on the $5,000 gap) bringing their final cost to $22,500/year.

That meant the school with the $70,000 sticker price was only going to cost $500 more dollars per year than the in-state alternative. It made me wonder how many families gave up the opportunity to attend the school of their dreams because of initial sticker price shock. 

In the end, my daughter did not go to either of these schools but is happy with her choice. And the software’s projection for her final cost versus the aid she received was within $300 of her actual award - offered nearly 8 months after we did the initial calculation. 

With this software, my family was able to create a true ‘short list’ of the right Colleges. We were also able to then see what the true cost would be - before applying or committing. We were able to determine which schools would work the hardest to get her in, and we were also able to see which subjects each school offered. It was a fantastic tool to start our College search.

Since that time a year ago, I’ve been lucky enough to partner with the same folks who invented the monster spreadsheet and turn it into a fantastic online tool. If you have a College bound student in their Junior or Senior year of High School and would like to see how the system would work for them, leave a comment on this post. I’ll be happy to set up a time to run a free report via web conference. If you like it, I can provide you a free personal copy of the software to use as well.

Best of luck to those of you looking at College. It is an exciting time. I hope you find the best fit for your student!