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[00:00:00] College cost calculator is a great tool to compare financial aid offers from up to five colleges at a time, allowing you to determine your estimated balance due at each prospective college. To access the calculator, visit MEFA.org/college. Cost calculator first. Enter the name of each college the student has been accepted to then enter the annual costs.

If you’re not sure what to enter for any item, hover over the question mark for an explanation. You should be able to find the cost for each school on your financial aid offer or on the school’s website. The primary build annual costs will be tuition and fees and food and housing. Keep in mind that your costs for food and housing may vary based on the dorm and meal plan that you select.

[00:01:00] Each college will provide estimates for the unbuilt costs of books and supplies, health insurance, and other expenses like transportation or a laptop. Note that in Massachusetts, if the student is insured under their parents’ health insurance plan, they can waive the cost of purchasing a health plan from the college.

Contact your college to waive that fee If this applies to you. Once you’ve added the annual cost items, add in any grants or scholarships that appear on the financial aid offer, which is referred to as annual gift aid. This will include any grants or scholarships the student is eligible for from the federal or state government, such as the Pell Grant.

Grants and scholarships offered from the college will typically be listed first and will include merit and need-based aid from the school. You’ll [00:02:00] also list any private scholarships that you’ve received. I. Next, add in any student loans you plan to borrow. A first year student is eligible to borrow up to $5,500 in federal direct student loans.

You might have both unsubsidized and subsidized federal direct loans list, both. If you received an offer to borrow funds directly from a college, which is rare, you would list that loan on the next line. If you have been offered work study, you can add that amount in work. Study funds will not be deducted from your college bill, but will be given to the student in paycheck form as they earn those funds throughout the year.

Consider applying these funds to some of those unbuild expenses. Any savings such as a 5 29 plan can be deducted from the balance as well. When you are done entering all of your costs and financial aid offers, you can [00:03:00] then look at the bottom line to see what the net cost is at each school side by side.

It is important to also compare what the student is receiving in free dollars through the grants and scholarships versus how much they’re expected to borrow or pay out of pocket. You can save your results as a PDF or print them. If you have any questions about using the calculator or want to discuss your results, contact mefa at 804 4 9 6 3 3 2 or college [email protected].