For Iowa students thinking about attending college in the fall, an interactive online “Tuition Tracker” can help them figure out some of the costs ahead of time.
The tool can be especially useful to people attending college for the first time. The Tuition Tracker lets a student calculate the “real costs” by seeing not only the published tuition, but the cost of other needs, showing them what they might end up actually paying.
Andrew Koricich, with the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, says a tool like this can be helpful for students in rural areas…
The tool also allows students to compare college costs using their household income, seeing what people like them have paid in the past and what to expect if they decide to enroll.
The latest Tuition Tracker update also shows historical data, such as student retention and graduation rates. But Koricich says no matter how accurate the data, many factors can affect the actual price of college – and it could sometimes be lower than what the tracker reflects…
Koricich recommends doing additional research, including visiting the website of each school the student is interested in to get the most up-to-date information.
(credit to Iowa News Service)
