Colleges Enlist Military-Helpful Net Price Calculators To Show Education Is Affordable
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
By: Mary Fallon

Student Aid Services Integrates Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits for Seven Colleges

Sacramento, CA August 3, 2010 Colleges are enlisting "military-helpful" net price calculators to show veterans and active duty military that Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits are not the only money available to pay their education bills.

More than 285,000 current and future student veterans have received in excess of $3.6 billion on average about $16,000 each since last August when the law and its Yellow Ribbon supplemental program began providing benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

"Student Aid Services' ThinkAheadTM Net Price Calculator helps us combat the misconception that Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits reduce eligibility for other federal, state, or institutional aid. Our calculator gives students a clear picture of what they will receive to pay for their education," said Kattie Wing, financial aid director for the University of Arkansas. "The calculator is a natural fit with our comprehensive effort to let veteran and active duty military know we appreciate what they have done for us and that our campus offers them a welcoming culture."

Market leader Student Aid Services' second-generation ThinkAheadTM Net Price Calculator is the only service that provides schools a way of showing veterans and current service members their total aid eligibility, net price, and out-of-pocket costs. Its "military-helpful" innovation was the brainchild of former U.S. Army cavalry officer David Childress, who was deployed to Iraq and other locations from 2000 to 2006 and now serves as Student Aid Services' general manager.

"When I was applying to graduate school after serving in the Army, it was impossible to find my student aid eligibility early enough to evaluate affordability," Childress said, "so it became very important to me that our technology support veterans' and active duty service members' dreams of a college education."

Along with the University of Arkansas of Fayetteville, AR; Albright College of Reading, PA; West Virginia University of Morgantown, WV; Ohio Christian University of Circleville, OH; Ohio Northern University of Ada, OH; Baldwin-Wallace College of Berea, OH; and Newman University of Wichita, KS are the nation's first schools that will showcase Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits using the ThinkAheadTM Net Price Calculator.

Student Aid Services provides accurate estimates by mirroring an institution's aid packaging policies and requirements and all federal, state, and institution-based aid.

"Our calculators offer a unique benefit by matching a prospective student's particular financial and academic circumstances with an institution's specific method of making education affordable through merit and need-based aid as well as Post 9/11 GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon benefits," said Childress. "For students, our approach relieves the anxiety about how much total aid to expect to pay education costs."

Like other colleges outsourcing net price calculators, the University of Arkansas expects the technology will improve communications with prospective students and help achieve enrollment goals. Currently nearly 500 students at University of Arkansas' Fayetteville campus qualify for Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.

"The calculator shows veterans and active duty military that they are eligible for more aid than they expect, and we are confident it will help increase their numbers on campus," Wing said.

By law, nearly 7,000 post-secondary institutions offering federal student aid must post a net price calculator on their Web sites by Oct. 29, 2011. To meet this mandate, post-secondary institutions have a choice of using the federal calculator template, building an NPC, or partnering with a third-party provider.

However the federal calculator template cannot determine Post 9/11 GI Benefits or merit aid, according to the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), which is the U.S. Department of Education's net price calculator authority. Colleges' desire to offer accurate aid estimates, which is expected to encourage more students to seek admission and other benefits not provided by the federal template, is fueling a move toward outsourcing the development of custom calculators.
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About Student Aid Services, Inc.
Student Aid Services, Inc. is the nation's leading net price calculator provider. Our advanced technology the ThinkAheadTM Net Price Calculator - is customized to post-secondary institutions' needs and budget so they can offer prospective and current students accurate aid eligibility, net price, and out-of-pocket cost estimates. Student Aid Services is a private company headquartered in Sacramento, CA. Its affiliate, StudentAid.com, provides consumers side-by-side comparisons of aid eligibility, net prices, and out-of-pocket costs for colleges of their choice as an early step in college planning. www.StudentAidNPC.com
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Media Contact:
Mary A. C. Fallon
mfallon@studentaid.com
916-629-7050 or 916-832-7627 mobile