What will college really cost?
Compare a college's sticker price with what aided students actually pay, add it up over four years, and set it against graduate earnings. Compare up to three colleges side by side.
Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition
Assumed yearly price increase
An assumption for the 4-year total, not a forecast. Showing: today's prices.
Figures are the latest U.S. College Scorecard data. Your own price depends on family income and aid offers: the official net price calculator gives a personal estimate.
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Pick a college to see its sticker price against what aided students pay, a 4-year total and graduate earnings. Add up to 2 more to compare.
Sticker price. Tuition and fees are what the college publishes. They leave out housing and food, which can double the bill.
What families pay. The average net price starts from the full cost of attendance and subtracts grants. Loans are not subtracted: they are repaid.
Your own number. File the FAFSA and run each college's net price calculator. Then compare offers in the comparison tool.
Worked example
- A college reports an average net price of $20,000 a year. At today's prices, 4 years cost $80,000.
- With a 3% yearly increase the years cost $20,000, $20,600, $21,218, $21,855: $83,673 in total.
- Its graduates' median earnings are $60,000. 10% of that is $6,000 a year, so the $80,000 takes about 13.3 years to pay back, before interest.
Next step: put it in one report
The tool stays free. The optional report puts your own numbers in one document. Pricing details
Aid & Loan Plan$14 once
A PDF that applies the 2026–27 federal aid rules to you and up to three colleges: Pell Grant, loan limits, the gap left and repayment.
Start with the Pell Grant estimator See a sample reportGuides that use this tool
Step-by-step explanations of the figures, written from the same federal data.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers about how the numbers work.
What is the difference between tuition and net price?
Tuition and fees are the published price for classes before aid. The average net price is the full cost of attendance (tuition, housing, food, books and other costs) minus the average grants and scholarships that aided first-year students received. Most students who get aid pay well below the sticker price.
Where do these numbers come from?
Every figure is the latest U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard data shown on the college's CollegesRef profile. Nothing is estimated or filled in; if a college did not report a figure, the tool says so.
Is the four-year estimate what I will pay?
No. It adds up four years of this year's figures, rising each year only if you choose an increase assumption. Many students take longer than four years, and your own aid depends on family finances. Use the college's official net price calculator for a personal estimate.
Why can the net price be higher than tuition?
Tuition and fees cover classes only. The average net price starts from the full cost of attendance, which adds housing, food, books and transport, and then subtracts grants. At colleges with low tuition, housing and food can outweigh the grants, so the net price ends up above tuition.
What does the payback figure mean?
It shows how many years it would take for 10% of the college's median graduate salary to add up to the four-year total. It ignores interest, taxes and living costs, so it is only a way to compare the scale of cost against earnings, not a repayment plan.
What do the earnings figures mean?
Median earnings are the middle annual salary of former students who received federal aid, measured some years after they started college. Earnings vary widely by major, so treat it as a broad signal of value, not a promise.
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The college promises an aid package that covers the gap between its cost and what your family is calculated to pay, through grants, work-study and sometimes loans.