Cost estimator
- 1. COST ESTIMATOR reTHINK PSU Proposal #134 Student Financial Aid, Office of Information Technology, Student Financial Services
- 2. MOTIVATIONS ARE CLEAR Students express a high degree of uncertainty about their finances. This is understandable given the complexity of even predicting what their students costs will be term by term (not to mention from one year to the next). Students with high levels of financial uncertainty are at the highest risk of not persisting.
- 3. PROBLEM IS COMPLEX Predicting costs is a multivariate problem: per credit and differential tuition structures, housing and transportation options, and individual course selections all must be taken into account.
- 4. PERFECTION IS THE ENEMY OF “GOOD ENOUGH” We propose a layered solution Use prior term information as well as characteristics known within banner (eg residency, student level, major/tuition differential, health insurance) to provide a ROUGH estimate. Display the assumptions to the student and allow them to make interactive modifications (eg I will actually be in 16 credits, not 12 this term)
- 5. ALLOW COMPLEXITY Encourage interaction Allow students to change the assumptions (eg “I’m moving off campus this term.”) Provide fields to enter individual course fees or other modifiers (eg “I know I’ll have some dental costs too this term.”)
- 6. CREATE A LEARNING TOOL Use the estimator as an opportunity to help students understand the options they have and how their decisions impact their total costs. Link unobtrusively to information about charges (University Housing rate sheet, Transportation and Parking rates, etc.)
- 7. SOLICIT AND USE STUDENT FEEDBACK A key component of our proposal is to involve students in the development of a solution. What would be intuitive and useful to understand costs?