Award Letter Comparison Tool
The college financial aid office will develop a financial aid package for your child using the data you provided on the FAFSA. The award letter will tell you the total amount of financial aid a school is offering. The Award letter will list all scholarships, grants, work-study, and loans being offered to your student. Every school has its own guidelines for putting together a package and will send you the award letter by mail, e-mail or directly to the students on line account with the school.
This Award Letter Comparison Tool will help you compare the financial aid packages from the colleges that have admitted you. It highlights the differences in the cost of attending each school. Please note some types of aid are not offered by every school and if you do not see an item on your award letter enter 0 in that field. Once you enter all of your information, you will be able to take this information a step further by calculating your 4-year loan cost (factoring inflation) and the percentage of your estimated annual salary that your student loan repayment will require once you graduate.
| College | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| School #1 | School #2 | School #3 | |
| College Name: | |||
College Cost: The total annual cost to attend the college (Tuition, Room & Board, Meal Plans, etc) |
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| Financial Aid - Grants/Scholarships | |||
| Pell Grant: | |||
| Federal SEOG: | |||
| State Grant: | |||
| Institutional Scholarship: | |||
| Financial Aid - Employment | |||
| Work-Study: | |||
| Financial Aid - Loans | |||
| Federal Perkins Loan: | |||
| Federal Stafford Loan (Subsidized): | |||
| Federal Stafford Loan (Unsubsidized): | |||
| Totals | |||
Total Financial Aid: This is the total of all of the different areas of financial aid (Loans, Grants and Employment) |
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Total Free Money: This is a total of the grants and scholarships you will recieve. Funds that you do not have to pay back or earn. |
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Total Borrowed Money (Student) : This is the total of the loans you would be taking out. Funds that need to be repaid. |
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Net Cost (Parental) : This is the amount you will need to go to this college after subtracting all of your financial aid (loans and free) from the cost of the college. |
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Annual Borrowing Breakdown: This will show you the annual breakdown of loans you will need to take out, accounting for inflation as well as a total amount needed to borrow over 4 years. |
4 Year Estimate | 4 Year Estimate | 4 Year Estimate |
Compare free money offered by each college and total loans borrowed to determine which college will cost the least.
Note: all additional expenses not covered by financial aid or student loans (such as: tuition, fees, meal plans, dorm room (includes off campus living), books, kits, mandatory uniforms, laptop, living expenses, traveling expenses (example: bus pass), etc… can be coveredby a Federal PLUS loan or Private student loan. Learn more about your options.
