At NASFAA's 2009 National Conference in San Antonio officials from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), and NASFAA members discussed the net price calculator that institutions will be required to post on their Web sites by August 2011. This conference session explores issues and challenges in calculating net cost and its impacts on institutions and is part of a joint effort by NCES, NASFAA and AIR to improve information on financial aid and the cost of college.
The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) requires the NCES to provide a template for this calculator by August 2009 and institutions to post it on their Web sites by August 2011. The HEOA permits institutions to use the net price calculator developed by the NCES or to develop their own calculator -- as long as this calculator includes "at a minimum the same data elements" found in the NCES calculator.
Panelists at this presentation discuss what the NCES template looks like and what data elements drive the calculator.
Posted 08/XX/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.