Compare my college financial aid offers side by side
A clear side-by-side of your aid offers showing what you'd actually pay, what's a loan, and what to ask each school.
The prompt
Help me compare my college financial aid offers so I understand what each school will really cost.
For each school: [SCHOOL NAME, cost of attendance listed (tuition, fees, housing, food, books, other), grants and scholarships, loans offered (type), work-study, any conditions such as a minimum GPA]
My family's expected contribution or what we can pay per year: [AMOUNT or "unsure"]
Other scholarships I've won: [AMOUNTS AND RULES]
Years to graduate expected: [e.g. 4]
Do this:
1. Separate free money (grants, scholarships) from money to repay (loans) and money you earn (work-study). Many offers blur these.
2. Calculate the net price per school: cost of attendance minus grants and scholarships only.
3. Estimate the four-year total, noting which awards are renewable and on what conditions, and that costs usually rise each year. Mark assumptions clearly.
4. Note costs the offer may have left out (travel, books, health insurance, laptop).
5. List questions to ask each financial aid office, including whether they will review the offer if my circumstances changed or another school offered more.
Return:
- A table: School | Cost of attendance | Free money | Net price | Loans offered | Work-study | 4-year estimate | Conditions.
- A plain-language summary of which is most affordable and why.
- The questions for each aid office.
Use only the numbers I give; don't invent amounts. This is general information, not financial advice; confirm details with each school's financial aid office.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Finance & Accounting prompts
What to fill in
- AMOUNT or "unsure"
- AMOUNTS AND RULES
- e.g. 4
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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