Some of the questions families, students, and counselors ask after discovering CollegeClearly. If something isn't answered here, the About page covers why this site exists in more detail.
CollegeClearly is a free educational resource that helps families understand the financial commitment behind a college decision before they commit to it.
The core idea is simple. Financial aid offers tell families what college costs after grants and scholarships. What they don't always make clear is what that remaining cost means as a monthly loan payment for the years after graduation. CollegeClearly translates that gap into something more concrete.
Yes. No account, no subscription, no paywall. The calculator, the comparison tool, and all of the educational content are free to use.
Primarily families in the middle of a college decision.
They're comparing financial aid offers, trying to understand what different schools would actually cost over time, or simply looking for a clearer way to think about borrowing before committing.
Independent educational consultants and college counselors also use it as a resource in affordability conversations with families. It gives them a simple, neutral way to show what borrowing might look like in monthly terms without having to build the math themselves.
Because colleges already show total cost. Every financial aid offer includes it. What's harder to see is what that cost becomes after graduation, when repayment begins.
Monthly payments are what families actually live with. A six-figure borrowing total is difficult to make concrete before you've carried it. A monthly figure is something families can hold next to other monthly obligations and begin to understand in real terms. The monthly payment was always part of the decision. CollegeClearly just makes it visible earlier.
Yes. CollegeClearly is an independent educational resource with no financial relationship with any college, lender, or financial institution. It doesn't receive commissions, referral fees, or advertising revenue from any party with a stake in the borrowing decision.
The site exists because the information was missing, not because there was money in providing it.
No. CollegeClearly doesn't tell families which college to choose, which lender to use, or what the right amount to borrow is. Every family's financial situation, priorities, and goals are different, and those decisions belong to the family.
The site's job is to make the financial commitment clearer, not to make the decision for you.
No. You don't need to create an account or share any personal information to use the calculator. The numbers you enter stay in your browser and aren't stored or transmitted anywhere.
CollegeClearly was created by Todd Bradfield after noticing that families often had clear information about what college would cost, but very little clarity about what that decision would mean financially over time. The monthly payment was always part of the equation. It just wasn't being shown.
The goal wasn't to build another financial aid tool. It was to give families one more piece of information that was genuinely missing from the decision. If you'd like to read more about the thinking behind the site, the About page goes into more detail.
The calculator starts with a college's estimated annual cost of attendance. After subtracting grants, scholarships, and any family contribution, it estimates how much a student might need to borrow over four years. That borrowing is then translated into a monthly payment using a 20-year repayment assumption at a fixed rate based on current federal loan terms.
The result is an estimate, not a guarantee. Actual payments will depend on the amount borrowed, the types of loans used, the interest rate at disbursement, and the repayment plan chosen. The estimate is designed to help families think about scale and commitment, not to replace official loan disclosures.
Accurate enough to be useful for comparison and planning. Not precise enough to treat as a final number.
The estimate reflects a straightforward scenario: four years at the same cost, standard federal repayment terms. Real borrowing is more complicated. Aid packages can change between years. Scholarships may have renewal conditions. Some families borrow a mix of federal and private loans with different terms. The calculator can't account for all of that, and it doesn't try to.
What it can do is give families a realistic sense of what different choices might mean over time, so the conversation about affordability starts from a more informed place.
No. A college's Net Price Calculator is still one of the best ways to estimate what a family might actually pay after institutional aid. CollegeClearly does something different: it takes whatever cost remains after aid and translates it into a monthly payment estimate.
The two tools are designed to answer different questions. The Net Price Calculator helps families understand what college will cost. CollegeClearly helps families understand what that cost will mean.
Because the goal is clarity, not direction. Every family's situation is different, and the right decision depends on factors CollegeClearly doesn't know and couldn't reliably weigh.
What CollegeClearly can do reliably is make one part of the picture clearer. Advice is a different job, and it belongs with people who actually know the family.
Because charging families for this information felt like the wrong model. The families who need this clarity most are often the ones navigating affordability most carefully. Putting the tool behind a paywall would undercut the point.