College Aid Calculator

Although there are many variables considered by financial aid offices, this calculator can serve as a tool to help you plan your payments or calculate your estimated family contribution (EFC), but does not represent an official response from a school. The professional judgment of the financial aid administrator at each institution is an important part of the process that cannot be replicated by any online calculator.

This calculator is appropriate for all families, but particularly those who have students who will be going to college in the next 2-3 years. Families with younger children may prefer to use the simpler Early college-cost Estimator.

Here's what CAC can do:

• Produce a personal Paying-for-College Report for your future reference
• Estimate public and private college Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• Project an inflation-adjusted EFC any number of years into the future
• Show instant before/after what-if answers (inheritance, bonus, etc.)
• Compute education loan payments for Stafford, PLUS, Perkins, and others
• Easy-to-understand help messages next to each data entry field
• Provide easy-to-understand help messages next to every data entry field.

You may access the calculator by clicking the Start the Calculator button below.

You may download the College Aid Calculator file to your computer for future, easy access. The download version of CAC allows entering additional detail, enables you to save your data, and prepares FAFSA and PROFILE Assistant Reports If you choose to download the file to your computer, the first prompt you will receive is the File Download dialog box. Be sure you choose the option "Save this file to disk." To begin downloading, click the following link: download College Aid Calculator (CAC).