NJASFAA meeting - November 2010

Overview – Net Price Calculators

•What is a net price calculator (NPC)?• How does it differ from “EFC” calculators?

• Old “equation” – cost minus EFC = need

• EFC and “need” have become less meaningful in helping families compare financial aid awards and plan for what their out-of-pocket expenses maybe

• NPC estimates out-of-pocket expenses instead of an Expected Family Contribution

•Why are we hearing about it now?• Federal emphasis on transparency, along with

providing graduation, retention and transfer-out rates to filers upon FAFSA submission

BackgroundNAICU Consumer Information Research – 2008

•The cost of a college education was the most frequently mentioned and most top-of-mind issue in higher education among parents surveyed

• Research found that parents want institution-specific information that increases their understanding about the cost of higher education

•Helping students and parents navigate the admissions and financial aid maze and better understand what they will end up paying was also a common comment from among parents surveyed

The College Board and Arts and Science Group – 2009/2010

•Survey results suggest that many families make college choices without accurate or sufficient information

•Fifty-nine percent of students said they had looked only at the sticker prices, while only 28 percent said they had considered the net tuition price of a college after determining what they might get in financial aid

Higher Education Opportunity Act•HEOA signed into law August 14, 2008

•Requires every institution to have a net price calculator on its website by October 2011

•An institution may use either the net price calculator developed;• By the Department

• By an outside organization

• By an institution itself

•The only requirement is that all calculators must include “at a minimum the same data elements” found in the Department’s template

•Purpose: “To help current and prospective students, families, and other consumers estimate the individual net price of an institution of higher education for a student. The calculator shall be developed in a manner that enables current and prospective students, families and consumers to determine an estimate of a current or prospective student’s individual net price at a particular institution.” P.L. 110-315, sec.132 (h) (1)

Goals of the NPC

•To create more transparency, more choice and greater access• To provide better financial information about higher education, particularly for underserved populations, by demonstrating how a combination of resources (grants, scholarships, loans, work) can make college affordable•To expand students’ range of institutional choices beyond a set of institutions they think they can afford•To develop deeper admissions/financial aid relationships with prospective students – for assertive follow-up, clear communications, and connection

Remember, it is Only an Estimate

•Results may vary depending on quality of data entered, timing of calculation, and complexity of net price calculator

• Even the “best” calculator is only as good as the data provided; the further away the student is from college enrollment, the less “accurate” it will be

• Timing is everything. Are results being used for early information and planning or when the high school senior is getting ready to apply?

•Estimates should open doors, not close them!

Benefits to Students and Institutions

Benefits to StudentsAll students deserve a clear picture of college costs, options & opportunities

■ The College Board’s Net Price Calculator will integrate with College Search on cb.com to create a unified planning experience for students & parents Ease of use, transparency, and consistency of information for

students Students can choose to save their entered data and re-use it to

calculate their net price at other colleges of interest Consistent results between colleges benefits students & colleges

Students can print or download their results and the data they entered

Student’s with data input questions can call College Board customer service professionals via dedicated “NPC” phone line

Benefits to InstitutionsWeb-based & easy to implement; you are always in control

■ Designed for fast and easy set-up and real-time updating

■ Provides a hosted solution Limited IT support needed No PII to manage

■ Customizable along a continuum from simple to complex; you can implement incrementally

Full utilization of College Board’s need analysis engine (INAS)■ Full computations for Federal Methodology and College Board’s Institutional

Methodology EFC

■ Two academic years provided

■ EFC bottom-line adjustment options

Enables you to provide net price specific to student’s particular situation■ Supplemental questions

■ Population grouping for packaging and content messages

■ Built-in Pell tables by academic year

■ Packaging can accommodate need-based & non-need-based aid

Enables you to meet & exceed federal requirements

Connects You to Students“Next Steps” function can be used to connect students to your institution

■ “Next Steps” can be customized by population group Encourages serious prospects

■ “Next Steps” can embed links to your institutional websiteData collect form to convey interest in your schoolSchedule a campus visit

Access through collegeboard.com and your campus website

■ Links to participating colleges will be presented throughout the student-facing pages

Service Design

College WebsiteCollege Website

CB.comCB.com

Net Price CalculatorNet Price Calculator

INASINAS

Student Result

Student Result

CollegeParameters

CollegeParameters

Organization of Questions

Ask: Dependency Questions

Dependent

Need Analysis Type?

Ask: Independent Student Questions

1040? 1040?

Ask: Remaining FM Questions

Ask: 1040 Questions

Ask: Remaining IM Questions

YES NO

FM IM

NO YES NOYES

Student View

Common Page Elements

1. Informs dependent students on where they are in the process

2. School managed content region on each page

3. College Board customer service contact info for students

4. Navigation bar for students to move back and forth through the data collect process

5. Compliance disclosure on every page

14

11

2233

44

55

The Student Experience: NPCWelcome Page

•Institution can brand at the top with logo, etc. (Sample University).•Includes College Board content and school content.•Friendly tone, simple language.•Allows user to: a) sign in with CB account, 2) sign up for a CB account & then sign in, or 3) enter as a guest. Please note the sign-in feature is not available until the second release, scheduled fore early December.•Includes first appearances of required federal disclaimer.

The Student Experience: NPCGetting Started

•Questions in top half of page determine dependency status; if independent, student is directed to Student Finances page for questions about income, household size, etc.•Supplemental questions are asked in bottom half of the page; schools can choose questions that support packaging policies.•“Status at school” question can trigger different messages or “next steps” related to where student is in the college planning process.•All questions will have an “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” response option.

The Student Experience: NPC Parent Household

• Progress bar on top of page shows movement through data collection part of NPC: Getting Started, Parent Household, Parent Income, Parent Assets, Student Finances.

•Questions determine household characteristics: number in college, parents marital status, etc.

•Sibling matrix appears if number of siblings is greater that zero (IM version only).

•Answers to these questions trigger additional (or fewer) questions in other parts of the calculator (e.g. marital status, tax filing status.)

The Student Experience: NPC Parent Income

•Questions posed about sources of parent income and adjustments.

•More questions if 1040 tax form filer.

•NPC, using INAS, will compute both AGI and taxes paid from the data entered.

The Student Experience: NPC Parent Assets

•Questions about family assets.

•By checking “yes” to home, business, or farm ownership, additional questions about value and amount owed on those assets are generated, especially in the IM version.

•Home ownership question will need to be answered “yes” or “no.” Business and farm ownership questions will default to “no.”

The Student Experience: NPC Student Finances

•Questions about student income and assets for dependent student; additional questions would be asked for independent student.

•“Calculate” button at bottom of page causes a pop-up box to appear which gives student another opportunity to save the data they have entered.

•Either way, “My Net Price” results will be calculated.

The Student Experience: NPC Save Your Info?

•By clicking on Save my data and calculate results, the students’ data is stored for later use by the student.

•By clicking on Do not save my data at this time, but calculate my results, the student continues as a guest.

•“Terms and Conditions” in this section are optional and supplied by the institution

The Student Experience: NPCMy Net Price

•New progress bar is displayed at top of page showing sections of the “results and guidance” part of calculator: My Net Price, My Resources, My “Next Steps”, My Information.

•Student’s net price is prominently displayed at top of the page, calculated as cost of education minus grant aid.

•At bottom of the page, “estimated self-help” and “estimated remaining costs” are displayed. By including self-help, students can see the full picture and understand what additional money they will need to pay their expenses.

•Chart is a graphic representation of student’s grant aid, self-help awards and remaining cost.

•Students can print all four pages of the My Results section at any time. This allows them to keep a record of their net price experience.

The Student Experience: NPC My Resources Worksheet

•This optional worksheet is designed for parents and students to evaluate other sources that may be available.

•Each category will be described in detail and help text will be provided.

•Instructions will make clear that this information does not duplicate answers to questions in calculator but is a way to think about additional resources available to cover costs.

The Student Experience: NPCMy Next Steps

•Institutions can create “next steps” lists based on where students are in the college planning process.

•These “next steps” can link to additional information and resources on institution’s website and/or on collegeboard.com

•“Next steps” can be assigned by student population.

•Additional “next steps” could include:

• Research summer programs

• Talk to local alumni

• Spend weekend on campus

• Review AP credit policies

The Student Experience: NPCMy Information

•This page summarizes answers provided.

•By clicking “edit” the student is returned to the appropriate page to change or update information.

•Entries can be edited (see button at the bottom) to update information as well as test “what if” scenarios. For example, students may want to test the difference in their net price results if:

• A parent lost his/her job

• A second sibling enrolled in college

• The family had unexpected medical expenses

School Based Administration

Implementation Support

User manual Training webinars Implementation guide and checklist “Real person” phone support Ability to test in non-live environment

School Administrative PortalOverview

•Set-up time is expected to vary from institution to institution.

•Institutions will receive implementation materials and templates to guide them through the steps to set up, maintain, and update their NPC. (No additional IT or 3rd party resources will be needed.)

•Customizable fields within the NPC allow the school to reflect its own need analysis and awarding policies so that students receive a realistic price and can make informed decisions.

•Boilerplate content for each NPC section will be provided and can be retained or modified.

•It is a web-based portal that manages the implementation of a school’s NPC and content to be displayed to students.

School Administrative Portal Overview (con’t)

•Prior to setting up the NPC, institutions will need to think about:

• Whether they want to make bottom-line adjustments to PC or SC;

• Which need analysis options to use;

• How best to define packaging rules for various groups of students;

• How to customize their messages and tasks for students;

• How to personalize the experience of the student and maximize the connection to the campus;

• How to segment their students into sub-group populations for the purpose of assigning expenses and financial aid allocations;

• How to communicate “next steps” to student users;

• How to link with other helpful campus or outside resources to assist students in their overall college planning;

Steps in the School-Based Administration ProcessStep 1: Questions – Define supplemental questions you want to ask – specifically data that you will need to implement your packaging and awarding policies.

EXAMPLE: What is your GPA?

What is your combined SAT score?

Step 2: Populations – Define sub-groups of students with specific attributes. Different populations are assigned different values for:

•Expenses (tuition/fees, room/board, books/supplies, transportation, personal)

•Grant aid (need-based, merit-based)

•Self-help (work, loans)

Different populations are also assigned content and task lists that match up to their sub-group

Steps in the School-Based Administration Process (con’t)

Step 3: Packaging – Define costs of education, packaging directions and fund assignments using a) tables b) factors and c) fixed values

EXAMPLE (using a table):

For students with GPAs as follows, assign the following institutional funds

System DefinedValue

> 4.0 $3,000

3.5-4.0 $2,500

3.0-3.49 $2,000

2.5-2.99 $1,500

<2.5 0

Steps in the School-Based Administration Process (con’t)

Step 4: Custom Content

Create custom content for sub-populations identified which allows schools to use their familiarity with their students to craft a message with the most helpful information to that sub-population – examples include

• High achieving students

• Pell eligible students

• Out-of-State students

Step 5: “Next steps” Lists

Create task lists for sub-populations identified which allows schools to give specific directions to students and can create a direct link between NPC users and the institution – examples include

• Schedule a tour

• E-mail for additional information

• Talk with local alumni

Next Steps Early adopting institutions now testing

Full launch October 2010

Prices are for 12-month subscription

$3500 FM need analysis comp option & PowerFAIDS User

$4500 FM need analysis comp option

$5500 IM need analysis comp option & PROFILE user

Order online www. collegeboard.com/npc

Order early for scheduling priority Payment not due before October launch date

www. collegeboard.com/npc

Webinars Scheduled for November 2010

• Go to http://www.collegeboard.com/npc

• Click on “Request Information” Tab

• Click on “Online Meeting Center” (under blue NPC button)

• Register for a webinar

• Schedule belowDate Time (ET) Methodology

November 12 11:00 am IM

November 17 1:00 pm FM

November 23 1:00 pm IM

November 29 1:00 pm FM

Thank You.