Incoming Ohio University students will get a realistic look at their college costs after the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships website implemented a “Net Cost Calculator.”
A federal regulation requires all schools to have the cost calculator on their websites.
“It wasn’t a new concept for us because we already had an aid calculator on our website,” said Valerie Miller, director of student financial aid and scholarships.
The upgraded calculator should give incoming students a better estimate of the total cost of attendance, Miller said.
“The hope would be it gives students realistic ideas on the cost of attendance,” Miller said. “At Ohio University, we already had a few calculators for students to use that were similar.”
A family’s yearly earnings and savings are put into the calculator, and the estimated costs of books, tuition, room and board, and other miscellaneous items are displayed.
There was no cost to the university to implement the tool, said Melissa Van Meter, associate director of operations for the financial aid office.
Colleges across the country were given until Oct. 29 to add a custom calculator to their website as part of the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, according to the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences website.
The calculator was added to OU’s website shortly before then, Miller said,
The Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships needed to input the costs of tuition, books and other items into the program, Miller said.
“Obviously it can’t be specific,” she said. “They’re using estimated information.”
The calculator is a simple tool that takes just a few minutes to use, Miller said. It can be found at www.collegeportraits.org/OH/OU/estimator.
“The federal government wanted to be sure people have all of the information and do not get any surprises,” said Becky Watts, chief of staff to OU President Roderick McDavis. “It could cause a crisis in a family.”
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