The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) requires institutions to post a net price calculator on their Web sites by August 2011.

To help institutions, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is required to provide a net cost calculator template that institutions can use by August 2009. Institutions will be required to use the net price calculator developed by the NCES or one the institution develops, as long as its calculator includes "at a minimum the same data elements" as the NCES calculator.

The HEOA also requires the NCES to display a multiyear tuition calculator on the College Navigator Web site by Aug. 14, 2009. This calculator will provide an estimate of "typical" tuition and fees for each year of the normal duration of the program of study at an institution and an estimate of the total tuition and fees.

RTI International, the contractor for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), has posted suggestions from the IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP) for the multiyear tuition calculator and for the NCES template for the net price calculator.

Comments on the proposed multiyear tuition calculator or the net price calculator should be sent to Janice Kelly-Reid, IPEDS Project Director at RTI International, at ipedsTRPcomment@rti.org by March 31, 2009.

Financial aid offices may also reference the Association for Institutional Research Web site for descriptions of implications for institutions, summaries of suggestions being considered, and additional resources for information.

Posted 03/18/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.