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Money tool

Award Letter Decoder

Pick a highlighter, then click each line of the letter. Gold is free money. Red is borrowed. Green is earned. When every line is marked, the letter's "remaining cost" gets struck through and the real net price is stamped on the page.

Highlighter:

Example letters. Replace with yours.

Office of Financial AidAward notification

School A

Cost of attendance: $32,000
University Grant$14,500
Federal Direct Loan$5,500
Federal Work-Study$2,500
Total aid$22,500
Remaining cost$9,500
Mark every line
3 line(s) still to mark.
Office of Financial AidAward notification

School C

Cost of attendance: $45,000
Merit Scholarship$20,000
Direct Loan + Parent PLUS$12,000
Work-Study$3,000
Total aid$35,000
Remaining cost$10,000
Mark every line
3 line(s) still to mark.

Your letters

Type each line the way it appears on the letter. Add as many lines and schools as you have. Then go back up and mark every line with a highlighter.

What the letters hide

SchoolLetter's "remaining cost"Net priceHidden in "aid"
School A$9,500mark all lines
School C$10,000mark all lines

The letter's own "remaining cost" line usually subtracts loans and work-study as if they were discounts. Net price does not.

Net price = Cost of attendance − Grants and scholarships. Loans and work-study are not subtracted; one is repaid, the other is earned. Formula per StudentAid.gov, How To Evaluate Your Aid Offers.

How to compare award letters

Every line on an award letter is one of three things. Free money is grants and scholarships, which you never pay back. Borrowed money is student and parent loans, which you repay with interest. Earned money is work-study, which arrives as paychecks only if you get the job and work the hours. Only the first kind lowers what college costs.

Most letters add all three together and call the sum "total aid." Many then subtract that total from the cost of attendance and call what is left your "remaining cost." That number is usually too low, because it treats a loan as a discount. The number to compare across schools is the net price: the cost of attendance minus free money, and nothing else.

There is no required format for these letters. The Government Accountability Office found in a 2022 review that many colleges leave the net price off entirely or understate it. This tool exists because the math is simple and the letters make it hard to see.

How this tool does the math

For each school, it adds up the lines you marked free and subtracts them from the cost of attendance you typed. That is the net price. It also shows the letter's "remaining cost," which subtracts every line, so you can see the gap between the two. The side-by-side table puts each school's numbers next to each other and does not rank them.

What this tool is NOT

This tool is not advice about which school to choose or whether to borrow. It does not know your family's finances, the terms of any loan, or whether a scholarship renews. It shows the numbers you typed, sorted the way a financial aid counselor would sort them, and nothing more. Aid rules and dollar limits change every year; the current ones are at StudentAid.gov.

Your letters stay on this device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. "Clear my letters" removes them.

Education only. This tool shows your numbers; it does not tell you what to do with them.

Embed this tool

Counselors, schools, and credit unions may embed the decoder free. It keeps the education-only line and links back here.

<iframe src="https://clearmoneyschool.com/embed/award-letter-decoder" width="100%" height="1400" style="border:0" title="Award Letter Decoder by ClearMoneySchool" loading="lazy"></iframe>

Glossary terms

Sources