Federal law mandated colleges post net price calculators on their websites

Basic approach is to take inputs based on student info...

...and produce an estimate of the net cost to attend

College Abacus built the “Kayak.com” of net price calculators, with 3800+ schools Normally, users would visit separate

sites, re-entering data Direct comparisons available

on College Abacus

Multiple, hard-to-find calculators Single calculator, no data re-entry

Accessible

College Abacus is free to use. We do not sell the financial information of our users. College Abacus is Spanish & English accessible. We built a mirror site in Spanish to serve more first-generation students and families.

Transparent

College Abacus provides financial aid estimates - direct from schools to students. We do not use our own algorithm – we take the information direct from schools.

College Abacus allows users to compare schools directly, unlike in regular net price calculators.

Individualized

College Abacus provides individualized grant aid estimates for students. No student is average – so the schools' financial aid estimates adjust for need.

College Abacus includes merit aid, when available. Many schools have also included adjustments for merit aid – which we display.

¿Español? vs

College Abacus has complete product

College Abacus provides a unique service to students, families and counselors

❶ Accessible

❷ Transparent

❸ Individualized

❹ Comprehensive

Service Free English & Spanish

Direct from schools

Compare schools

Adjusts for finances

Adjusts for academics

Community &technical 4-year schools

Net price calculators from vendors (College Board, College Portraits, Student Aid Services)

Online estimators of net price using ‘proprietary’ systems (Alltuition, CostofLearning)

Aggregate data calculators (CNN Money, etc) Private counseling on college choices (Unigo, Naviance)

College Abacus has gained a national profile through earned media hits

“If you've ever used Kayak, CarMax or Zillow to shop for airfares, cars or houses, you'll appreciate what is about to happen to the way that Americans will soon compare college prices.

A company called College Abacus, which was created by a pair of Rhodes Scholars, has created a potentially valuable -- and free -- tool that allows you to check the net price of a school as easily as you now look up the cheapest air fares to Hawaii.“

“One of the best new ways to save money.”

College Abacus has gained a national profile through earned media hits

“Find college loans confusing? CollegeAbacus.com may help.”

“College Abacus helps students figure out what schools they can afford.”

“Net price calculators get the Kayak treatment.”

“Or, to put it self-servingly, think of it as the Mint.com of financial aid.”

College Abacus at the White House Datapalooza, January 2014

White House Education Datapalooza in Jan ‘14 highlighted College Abacus

Co-hosted by the White House and the U.S. Department of Education, the event highlighted innovators who use free government data to build products that expand educational opportunity.

College Abacus, featured as the first of six product presentations, used “Akeelah’s College Search,” to show how first-generation and low-income students can use College Abacus to make informed choices about where to apply to college. The video is available here.

At the event, College Abacus unveiled two new features in support of President Obama’s higher education initiative: a full Spanish version of College Abacus¹ and an enhanced results page that features open government data on four-year graduation rates, two-year loan default rates and SAT/ACT scores for each searched school.

¹The majority of school net price calculators exist in “English-only” formats on school websites, so the Abacus effort represents a major step toward empowering first-generation Hispanic students with information about college financial aid.

Akeelah's college search Akeelah and the Bee (2006) follows a young girl from South Los Angeles in her quest to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. At College Abacus, we were curious to explore what an extraordinary student like Akeelah might expect in financial aid when applying to college. As a first-generation minority applicant from a low-income background, financial aid is likely to provide key support for Akeelah’s matriculation, persistence and completion at a four-year college.

Sticker price does not predict net price

3x+

Aid varies widely at similar schools

Elite schools can be affordable

US Government Open Data Feature

FSA DATA IPEDS DATA

NEW!