college-cost-calculator

New cost calculator aims to be the “Kayak.com” of college prices


Education big-names ACT and Noodle team up with College Abacus to further higher ed cost transparency through different online calculator integration.

college-cost-calculatorHailed as one of CNNMoney’s best new money ideas of 2014, College Abacus seeks to increase transparency in the college tuition market by allowing families to access the net price calculators of more than 4,500 U.S. schools in one place and compare their individualized options in an apples-to-apples format, rather than having to search on each school’s individual website.

Millions of parents and students looking to compare the cost of colleges can now do so with ACT Profile and education resource site Noodle through new partnerships with College Abacus, a free online tool that allows students and families to calculate and compare their bottom-line tuition bills across U.S. colleges and universities.

College Abacus has integrated its newly created app, or “widget,” directly into the two organizations’ websites, enabling students and their families to seamlessly explore all of their education options.

“ACT is committed to helping people achieve education and workplace success, and ACT Profile is just one resource available to students, counselors, and parents as students navigate the transition between high school and college,” said John Corrigan, ACT vice president of customer experience. “College Abacus serves as a great financial planning complement to the free tools we already provide on ACT Profile to help students match interests, major, career, and school.”

(Next page: How the data will act as a higher-ed “Kayak.com” for students)

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 required all U.S. colleges to publish net price calculators on their websites – the cost of higher education after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the total. By aggregating thousands of net price calculators, College Abacus aims to serve as a ‘Kayak.com’ for college costs, eliminating the need to click through multiple websites and continuously re-enter information.

“A college education is one of the biggest investments a person can make in his or her lifetime and, in this era of rising tuition costs and growing student loan debt, families deserve access to the best possible tools and information for understanding their options,” said Abigail Seldin, co-founder of College Abacus and vice president of Innovation and Product Management at ECMC Group. “These exciting new partnerships with ACT and Noodle will substantially broaden the reach of College Abacus, giving us a wider platform for helping more families identify colleges within their budgets.”

College Abacus is operated out of the Washington, D.C.-based ECMC Innovation Lab, an incubator for new products and solutions designed to empower students to succeed in all types of higher education. For more information on the College Abacus widget, please visit: CollegeAbacus.org/widget.

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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