What Is Net Price?
Net price is what a family actually pays for a year of college after grant aid - scholarships and grants that do not need to be repaid - is subtracted from the total cost of attendance.
Listed price vs. your price
Net price is what a family actually pays for a year of college after grant aid - scholarships and grants that do not need to be repaid - is subtracted from the total cost of attendance. Two colleges with the same listed price can have wildly different net prices, and the same college charges different net prices to families at different incomes. That is why every College Receipt profile shows net price across five family income brackets instead of one headline number. When you compare colleges, compare the bracket closest to your family income, multiply by four for a rough degree cost, and remember that loans are not aid that lowers the price - they are how the price gets financed.
One more thing to know: costs are published one academic year at a time, and they change from year to year. Tuition and room and board for the year printed on a college profile are that year's published figures - next year's will be a little different, usually a little higher. Net price carries no printed year on this site, because the release does not verify one for it. Our four-year totals multiply the published net price as printed: they are an honest yardstick for comparing colleges today, not a prediction of the exact bill in a student's senior year.