St. Olaf offers new, easy-to-use financial aid calculator
Want to know how much financial aid you could receive from St. Olaf College? Thanks to a new tool available on the college’s website, you can find out by answering six simple financial questions.
The online tool, MyinTuition, enables prospective students and their families to get an estimate of their financial aid award from St. Olaf through a process that takes less than five minutes.
After users provide answers to basic, readily known financial questions (total family income, value of their house, any remaining mortgage balance, cash in the bank, and savings held in retirement accounts and other investment accounts), MyinTuition will provide an estimated cost for attending St. Olaf.
“We know that many students rule out particular colleges based solely on sticker price. In less than five minutes, they can have an estimate of their cost to attend St. Olaf, answering one of the key questions in the college search process — and leaving more time to discover the tremendous opportunities available to them through a St. Olaf education,” says Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Chris George ’94.
The new tool was featured in a Washington Post story and mentioned in a New York Times piece, which notes that “the calculator is remarkably easy to use, far easier than other financial-aid tools.”
MyinTuition’s estimate breaks down to show a family’s expected contribution, work-study funds, available loans, and grant assistance. The estimate usually comes within a few thousand dollars of a student’s actual cost. However, MyinTuition does not replace the school’s more specific, in-depth net price calculator.
St. Olaf is one of just 80 colleges in the country that meets 100 percent of the demonstrated financial need of every student it admits. At St. Olaf, 93 percent of students receive financial aid or scholarships.
“The financial aid application process is involved and includes language that can be unfamiliar. The usability of MyinTuition helps a family understand that is worth the effort to apply for financial aid,” says St. Olaf Director of Financial Aid Carly Eichhorst.
St. Olaf joins 30 other colleges and universities in using MyinTuition. These schools include Boston College, Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, Mount Holyoke College, and Wellesley College. MyinTuition was created at Wellesley in 2013 by Phillip Levine, Katharine Coman, and A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics.