Why this exists
Decades in the financial aid and scholarships industry. A fellow college parent.
I have spent decades in the financial aid and scholarships industry, and I am one of the oldest dads of a high school senior you will ever meet. Our youngest is our third child. His friends' parents have known us since pre-kindergarten.
Which means that for the past year, at every school event, every game, and even in the parking lots, I have been the person cornered by the kitchen counter. What does that sticker price actually mean? Should we even bother with the FAFSA if we earn too much? Should I remortgage the house, use my 401K, sell one of the other kids on eBay?
I built this tool so I could help more parents who come along this path after us.
What we use and what we don't
We don't sell your information, and we don't take commissions from colleges or lenders.
- We show you the same federal and state rules a Financial Aid and Scholarships office uses, applied to each college's published 2026-27 billed costs.
- We tell you where our data ends. Local scholarships from your church, lodge or employer never appear in any national database, including ours. We will point you at them instead.
- We can't tell you what a college will actually offer. Only the college can do that. But we can give you a careful estimate to plan with.
I have helped thousands of parents, many face to face and over the phone, make sense of college costs. What I offer is sound, practical information from someone who has been on both sides of this process. I built this tool to help parents understand the estimated cost of college, find scholarships their student can apply for.
Questions? Write to us any time at info@collegecostcompass.com or reply to any email we send you.