COLLEGE FUNDING & FAFSA
How to Compare College Financial Aid Offers.
Award letters are confusing on purpose. Here is how to read them clearly.
To compare financial aid offers the right way, you have to see past the jargon. Here is how to find the number that actually matters.
That exciting award letter can hide the real cost. Learning to compare financial aid offers helps you choose with your eyes open. Letters are famously confusing. One study found colleges used 136 different terms for the same federal loan (uAspire and New America, https://www.uaspire.org/news-events/study-college-financial-aid-award-letters-lack-clarity,-transparency)
How do I compare financial aid offers?
Find each school’s total cost of attendance, direct and indirect. Then subtract only gift aid, meaning grants and scholarships you never repay. What is left is your net cost, the real number to compare. Do not count student loans or work study as free money.
The school with the biggest award is not always the cheapest. Only the net cost tells the truth.
What if an offer is not enough?
You can ask for more. If your family situation changed or another school offered more, you can send an appeal to the financial aid office. EAESSI helps you compare award letters and write an appeal that gets results.
Compare offers in four steps
Find your real cost
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See the real cost before you choose. Get free help comparing your offers now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Net cost is the total cost of attendance minus gift aid you never repay. It is the real number to compare.
Loans appear on award letters, but you repay them. Do not count them as free money when comparing.
You can appeal. If your situation changed or another school offered more, ask the financial aid office.