Guide/06 Paying for College
Comparing Financial Aid Offers
How to read aid packages side by side, calculate real four-year cost, and ask for a better offer.
Chapter 20 of 243 min readUpdated September 23, 2026 Preview
When acceptances arrive, the financial aid offers that come with them are often confusing — every school formats them differently, and some make loans look like discounts.
This chapter shows how to compare offers on equal terms, what "net price" really means, and when (and how) it's reasonable to ask a college to reconsider.
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What’s in this chapter
- 1Start with the money
- 2How to compare offers
- 3How much should the difference matter?
- 4Offers can sometimes be appealed