Know what each college will really cost, before you apply.

The price on a college's website isn't what most families pay

What you'll actually pay depends on your income and savings in specific years, on each college's own rules, and on how many of your children are in college at once. AidAhead puts those together for every college on your list.

• See the real four-year cost of each college

  Each college's cost after grants and scholarships, year by year and for all four years, with loans and work-study kept separate so they never look like free money.

  Published costs for 3,648 U.S. colleges, each with its year and source.

• Know the number colleges start from

  Your Student Aid Index and Pell Grant, worked out line by line from the Department of Education's published formula, the same one the FAFSA® uses.

  Matches ED's own worked example on every line, and an independent second calculation on 20,000 random households to the dollar.

• Private colleges' own rules, college by college

  Many private colleges count your home, business or the other parent's income differently. AidAhead applies each researched college's published policy and shows a range, not a false-precise single number.

  105 colleges researched from their own pages, each rule with its source and date.

• Plan the tax years that count

  Each FAFSA looks at your taxes from two years before. Try a scenario, such as selling an investment or a bonus in a given year, and see its effect on your taxes and on each child's aid, year by year.

  Taxes use the same tested tax engine as our retirement planner, Taxtirement.

• See merit scholarships you're likely to get

  Enter your child's grades and test scores. Where a college publishes a scholarship table, AidAhead shows the award that fits, with its conditions, and adds it to the four-year cost.

  Merit records for 100 colleges, read from each college's own page.

• Compare award letters line by line

  Add each college's offer from a PDF, photos or by typing. AidAhead reads it on your device, you confirm every line, and the offers line up: grants, loans, work-study and what's left to pay.

  Checked on 36 test letters in six layouts; the letter itself is never kept.

• Ask for a second look with your facts

  If your situation changed or another college offered more, AidAhead drafts a letter from the facts you enter and shows how that college takes requests. You review it and send it yourself.

  No made-up wording: the letter states only what you entered.

• Never miss a date

  The FAFSA and CSS Profile® openings, each college's priority dates you add, and the documents each one needs, with reminders on your device.

  Reminders never name your child.

Numbers you can check

• Every lineof ED's 2027–28 worked example reproduced exactly
• 20,000random households checked against an independent calculation, no differences
• 27 of 31test families match the official estimator at studentaid.gov exactly; the other 4, explained
• 9 in 10colleges' own net price calculator results fall inside our range

How each number is worked out, with sources