Resources from TICAS

Report finds that college Net Price Calculators in Michigan are not consistently easy for students to find, use, or compare, and makes recommendations for how the federal government, states, and colleges can improve these college cost tools.

Statement of Lindsay Ahlman on three bipartisan bills that would ensure students have key information to help them make decisions about where to go to college and how to pay for it.

Handout created for the 2017 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference, with uAspire. The handout includes tips for counselors and links to helpful tools and resources on financial aid, net price calculators, financial aid award letters, and student loans.

Presentation at the 2015 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) national conference. TICAS and uAspire provided an overview of resources on financial aid and student loans, including the updated College Scorecard, as well as recommendations for how to interpret and compare information from net price calculators and financial aid award letters.

Handout created for the 2015 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) national conference, with uAspire. Includes tips for counselors and links to helpful tools and resources on financial aid, net price calculators, financial aid award letters, and student loans.

Handout created with uAspire for the 2014 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference. Includes tips for counselors and links to helpful tools and resources on financial aid, net price calculators, financial aid award letters, and student loans.

Blog post on the bipartisan Net Price Calculator Improvement Act (HR 3694), introduced by Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX).

Presentation at the 2013 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference. TICAS presented its research and recommendations on net price calculators and financial aid award letters, while counseling professionals from uAspire and Stuyvesant High School discussed their experiences using those tools with students and families and shared best practices for counselors.

Blog post on the Department of Education's recent improvements to guidance for colleges, which - if followed - could help make net price calculators easier to find, use, and compare.

Presentation at the 2012 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference. TICAS presented its new research on net price calculators, while college counselors from uAspire and Austin High School and the financial aid director at Stanford University discussed the student and college perspective on those online tools.

Consumer tips for how to find, use, and make the most of these new online tools.

Response to New York Times blog post on the potential usefulness of net price calculators.

We found mixed results for how easy net price calculators were to find, use, and understand, even among early adopters. This issue brief details our investigation's findings and offers recommendations for how colleges can make their calculators as helpful as possible for students and their families.

Overview of the Department of Education's new net price data and the federal net price calculator requirement for colleges. This blog post includes an example of a net price calculator that displays cost estimates in a misleading way, making the college look more affordable than it likely will be.