Determining college costs is confusing! A college's "sticker price" can be thousands more than what families will actually pay, and financial aid and scholarships vary from one student to another.

To reduce the confusion and help families be more proactive in planning for actual college costs, the federal government recently mandated that all colleges and universities provide a "Net Price Calculator" (NPC) on their websites. Cedarville University launched its calculator last month. The NPC is designed to help parents and families determine the price they would actually pay, once financial aid is considered.

Now that NPC's are readily available, it's important to evaluate how accurate and helpful they are. Today's post by Roscoe Smith, associate vice president for enrollment strategies at Cedarville University, describes the benefits of the NPC, outlines their limitations, and provides additional resources.