The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) requires institutions to post a net price calculator (NPC) on their web sites by August 2011. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is required to provide a template for this calculator by August 2009. The HEOA permits institutions to use the net price calculator developed by the NCES or to develop their own calculator -- as long as this calculator includes "at a minimum the same data elements" found in the NCES calculator.

Have you been wondering what the NCES calculator template looks like? Have you been asked to lead your institution's calculator development? Are you curious about what other institutions are doing to comply with the calculator provisions? Have you been weighing the pros and cons of using the NCES' template or developing your own calculator? Do you want to know what data elements drive the calculator? You can get these questions and more answered at NASFAA's Annual Conference in San Antonio.

Visit room 214C on Monday, July 13 from 10:45 am - 12:00 PM to hear what representatives from NCES, the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) and your NASFAA colleagues have to say about the calculator. A panel of three financial aid administrators, one institutional researcher and one official from NCES will discuss issues and challenges in calculating net cost and its impacts on institutions. This panel is part of the joint efforts by NCES, NASFAA and AIR to improve information on financial aid and the cost of college.

Posted 07/10/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.