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Colleges and what they may cost

Keep each child's college list, and see each college's cost and our estimate of what your family may pay after grants.

Steps

  1. Tap Colleges.
  2. Under a child, tap "Add a college" and search by name.
  3. Tap a college to see its cost per year, our estimate for you, and its official pages.
  4. Under "Our estimate", see the range for the first year and for four years. Tap "How this is calculated" to see each step.
  5. Check "Confidence" and "Based on" to see how sure the estimate is and what it used.
  6. To look for more colleges, tap "Find colleges".

Good to know

Cost per year

Tuition, housing, food, books and other costs as the college reports them to the federal government. A public college in your own state shows its in-state price.

Our estimate

What your family may pay after the college's grants, shown as a range. It uses the college's own published aid rules where we've researched them, and federal data on what families like yours paid.

Typical net price at your income

What families with incomes like yours paid on average, from federal data. Our estimate replaces it when we have one.

Colleges outside the US

Costs are in the college's currency, with US dollars beside them at a fixed exchange rate.

Estimates, not offers

Each college decides its own aid. Use its net price calculator and its offer for the real number. The FAFSA® is free at studentaid.gov.

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