The 2026-27 College Funding Guide

The number on a college's website is almost never the number families pay. Understanding the difference is the single most useful thing you can do this year.

Sticker price is the published cost of attendance. Tuition, fees, housing, food, books, transportation, and personal expenses. This is the starting number, not the ending one. Net price is sticker price minus grants and scholarships, which you never repay. This is the real number, and it is often far lower.

The six pieces of cost of attendance

Only the first two are usually billed directly by the school. The rest are estimates, which means you have some control over them. A student living at home changes the transportation and housing lines significantly, and that is often the largest single lever a family has.

Cost data from the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.

Cost only means something next to what you get for it. This is the question most guides skip, and it is the one families ask us most.

Three numbers that predict whether a school pays off

1. Graduation rate. The percentage of students who finish. A cheap school where half the students never graduate is not cheap. Look for the six year rate.
2. Earnings after enrollment. Federal wage records, not surveys, measured six years after students start. Note that this includes people who enrolled and did not finish.
3. Loan repayment rate. The share of former students successfully paying down their loans. An honest signal of whether graduates can afford what they borrowed.

Two real schools, compared honestly

Real federal data. Names withheld, because the point is the method, not the verdict.

Net price shown for families earning $48,000 to $75,000.

The private university graduates more of its students, and its former students earn about $7,700 more. It also costs about $77,400 more across four years. Divide the cost difference by the earnings advantage and you get roughly ten years. That is how long the higher salary takes to repay the higher price, before counting interest on the extra borrowing.

Ten years is not a verdict. For a family who can pay the difference without borrowing it, the higher graduation rate may be worth every dollar. For a family financing that gap at 6.52 percent, the math looks different. The number does not decide for you. It tells you what you are deciding about.

Net price by income band from the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 2022-23, the most recent finalized data. Graduation rate, earnings, and median debt from the U.S. Department of Education, retrieved August 2026. Four year totals are CollegeLens projections assuming four percent annual increases, not published figures.

A federal law called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect this summer. If your family planned around older rules, several assumptions need revisiting.

1. Parent PLUS loans are now capped. Parents can borrow up to $20,000 per year per student, with a $65,000 lifetime limit per student. Before July 1 there was no cap beyond the cost of attendance. Families who assumed Parent PLUS would cover whatever aid did not need a new plan.
2. Graduate PLUS loans ended for new borrowers. Graduate and professional students starting programs after July 1, 2026 cannot borrow Grad PLUS. Direct Unsubsidized loans remain, capped at $20,500 a year for graduate study and $50,000 a year for professional programs such as law and medicine.
3. New Parent PLUS loans have fewer repayment options. Parent PLUS loans taken on or after July 1, 2026 can only be repaid on a new tiered standard plan, a fixed payment over 10 to 25 years based on the balance. They are not eligible for income driven repayment, and they do not count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
4. SAVE ended and RAP replaced it. The SAVE repayment plan is gone. The new Repayment Assistance Plan sets payments at 1 to 10 percent of income with a $10 minimum, waives unpaid interest so balances do not grow, and forgives remaining balances after 30 years.
5. Interest rates went up. For federal loans first disbursed between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027. The current numbers are in the table above.

Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education. Rates confirmed June 2026 for the 2026-27 award year.

There is an order to this. Money you never repay comes first. Money you repay with interest comes last. Most families work the list out of order and pay for it later.

Work the ladder from the top. Every dollar you find on rungs one and two is a dollar you never repay, and a dollar of interest you never pay on top of it.

Finding scholarships without wasting your time

1. Start local. Community foundations, rotary clubs, credit unions, and local businesses. Smaller awards, far less competition, and shorter applications. Ask your school counselor for the local list.
2. Ask every employer in the family. Many companies fund scholarships for employees' children. This is one of the most under-claimed sources of money in the country, because families never think to ask HR.
3. Check each school's own aid. Institutional aid is often the largest single source. Some awards require a separate application or an earlier deadline.
4. Use national databases realistically. Large scholarship search sites work, but the awards are competitive. Treat them as a supplement to local and institutional sources, not a replacement for them.

Borrowing for college is not a failure. Borrowing more than a degree will return is. Here is how to tell the difference before you sign.

Federal first, and here is why

What the payment actually looks like

Federal undergraduate rate of 6.52 percent on a standard ten year plan.

Four questions before you sign anything

1. What will my monthly payment be? Not the total borrowed. The monthly number, because that is what you live with. Aim to keep it under 10 percent of your expected gross monthly starting pay.
2. What do people in my field actually earn to start? Look up the occupation, not the degree. Federal wage data covers hundreds of occupations, broken out by state.
3. Am I borrowing for tuition or for lifestyle? Housing choices, meal plans, and personal spending are the most flexible parts of cost of attendance.
4. What happens if I do not finish? Debt without a credential is the worst outcome in this system. This is exactly why graduation rate belongs in the decision.

Aid offers arrive in the spring, in wildly inconsistent formats. Some are clear. Some blur the line between money you keep and money you repay. Here is how to read any of them.

Sort every line into three buckets

1. Money you keep. Grants, scholarships, tuition waivers. Never repaid. This is real aid, and it is the only part of an offer that reduces what college actually costs your family.
2. Money you earn. Work-study and campus employment. Real money, but paid to you as wages over the term. It does not reduce the bill you owe in August.
3. Money you repay. Federal loans, Parent PLUS, private loans. This is debt presented inside an aid package. It is a financing option, not assistance.

1. Write down the cost of attendance. Enter each school's full cost of attendance, including books and transportation, not just tuition and fees.
2. Subtract grants and scholarships. Subtract only money you keep and never repay. This gives you net price.
3. List work-study separately. Work-study is real money, but it is paid to you as wages over the term. It does not reduce the bill you owe in August.
4. List every loan offered. Federal student loans, Parent PLUS, and private loans are debt presented inside an aid package. They are a financing option, not assistance.
5. Calculate the gap remaining. Compare schools on the gap remaining line, not the total aid line. That gap is what your family actually has to produce, every year, for four years.
6. Confirm renewal terms. Ask whether the grants renew all four years and what GPA is required to keep the aid.

Questions to ask every financial aid office

• Does this grant or scholarship renew for all four years, and what do I need to maintain?
• Is this the full cost of attendance, including books and transportation?
• Are there fees not shown here, such as program, lab, or technology fees?
• If our financial situation changed since we filed the FAFSA, how do we request a review?
• What is the deadline to accept or decline parts of this offer?

When the offer is not enough

If a school's offer leaves a gap your family cannot cover, you can ask for a review. This is not negotiation, and schools do not like that word. It is called a professional judgment appeal, and it exists for families whose circumstances changed after they filed.

Circumstances that commonly support an appeal:

• Job loss or a significant reduction in income
• Medical expenses not covered by insurance
• Divorce or separation since filing
• Death of a parent or spouse
• A one time income event, such as a retirement withdrawal, that will not repeat
• Unusual dependent care costs

Put the request in writing. Be specific and factual rather than emotional. State what changed, when it changed, and what the financial effect is. Include documentation: termination letters, medical bills, court filings. Address it to the financial aid office, not admissions.