For many prospective students and families, it can be difficult to understand the full costs of attending and completing a post-secondary degree program.

To make those costs more transparent, the federal government requires all colleges participating in federal student aid programs to post a net price calculator (NPC) on their official website.

A recent study, however, finds that NPCs can provide incomplete, outdated or even misleading information to prospective students.

Study co-author and Penn AHEAD executive director Laura Perna joins CPRE Executive Director Jonathan Supovitz to discuss her team’s findings and some important implications for higher education policymakers and college officials.

Featured Research: Perna, Laura W., Jeremy Wright-Kim, and Nathan Jiang. “Money Matters: Understanding How Colleges and Universities Use Their Websites to Communicate Information About How to Pay College Costs.” Educational Policy, (August 2019).