Early Look at College Net Price Calculators Finds Mixed Results

By the end of October, colleges must create online calculators to help prospective students judge college costs.  The price of tuition doesn’t tell students everything they need to know about cost.  Students are also responsible for fees, books, food and housing, and transportation costs.  Also, some high-tuition schools offer generous grants and scholarships.

The new “net price calculators” can help students understand which schools they can afford.  A report by the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) casts light on how these soon-to-be-required calculators can best help students and families.

In its review, TICAS found that the calculators were mixed.  Some were easy to find, use and understand, but others were difficult to locate, required detailed information from users’ financial records, and presented confusing results.

Several calculators subtracted expected student loans from the net price, potentially minimizing the fact that student loans are part of the net price shouldered by students and families.

The findings are detailed in a spiffy new report, Adding It All Up: An Early Look at Net Price Calculators, which includes examples of actual calculators.

Thanks go to TICAS for its great research and the Project on Student Debt and IBRInfo.org.

 

Increased Oversight of Tuition Assistance Program is Needed

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling for expanded education quality review procedures after auditing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) oversight of the Military Tuition Assistance Program.

The Military Tuition Assistance Program provided $517 million in tuition assistance to approximately 377,000 service members in fiscal year 2009.  These funds help service members pay for higher education.

The GAO found that DOD review of the quality of academic courses and services was too narrow.   Although 71% of the courses taken by service members were distance courses, DOD focused its oversight on traditional classroom instruction.

The GAO reports that DOD review can also be improved by increased accountability.  For example, DOD currently lacks a system to track complaints about schools and their outcomes and does not gather information such as whether schools are in jeopardy of losing their accreditation.

As a result, DOD may have difficultly accurately identifying problems that can negatively affect student service members.

DOD plans to implement more uniform oversight policies and procedures and an expanded quality review process.

Read more:

United States Government Accountability Office Report: DOD Education Benefits:  Increased Oversight of Tuition Assistance Program Is Needed (March 2011).