Four checks for any award letter
About nine in ten colleges leave the net price out of their aid offers, or understate it.
Where this idea comes from· GAO 2022
Two old words on a new letter
In 2022 the US Government Accountability Office collected financial aid offers from a nationally representative sample of 176 colleges. It estimated that 91 per cent of colleges leave the net price out of their offers or understate it, and that many count loans, which must be paid back, as if they lowered the price.
One thing to hold: The net price line: the full cost of a year minus grants and scholarships only. If the letter does not show it, you can write it in yourself.
Why it matters: An aid letter is written in words that are hundreds of years old and numbers that change every year. Knowing what each word means is how you read the numbers.
Two words:
Tuition
From the Latin tuitio, “guarding, looking after”: it once meant care or guardianship (Shakespeare uses it that way); now it means teaching, and in America the fee. What does the fee on your letter pay for?Bursar
From the Latin bursa, “purse”: the person who keeps the college purse. What would you ask the bursar’s office about your bill?