Your Higher Education Marketing Best Website of the Week… University of Virginia: Net Price Estimator… 23 September 2016

MyIntuition: Quick & Easy Cost Estimate at a Public University

UVA college cost estimatorIn February 2014 I picked a “MyIntuition” cost calculator at Wellesley College as a quick and easy alternative to Net Price Calculators that most often were needlessly FAFSA-like in the number of questions asked and time required to get a price estimate.

The Wellesley College MyIntuition alternative asked just 7 questions and could be completed in not many more minutes. Today’s Link of the Week features a rare example of a public university that has adopted the same name and a similar format borrowed from Wellesley.

Gain a Marketing Advantage

Even with early FAFSA filing, it is reasonable to think that many families will value a quick and easy estimate of their likely expenses early in the college selection process. Colleges that provide quick and easy estimates will gain a marketing advantage over their rivals. Very few do that.

The UVA form asked just a few basic financial questions: family income, home value, savings, investments other than those in retirement plans, and the number of children in college. UVA also wants to know whether or not the person completing the form is a Virginia resident.

At the end UVA gives a range of 3 “Your Estimated Cost” possibilities:

  • Low Estimate at $12,000
  • Best Estimate at $17,600
  • High Estimate at $24,000

Each of those was far lower than the “sticker price” for an out-of-state student.

Mobile Ratings: Speed Slow, Experience High

On mobile, Google PageSpeed Insights gives the UVA version a relatively slow 67/100 and a high 96/100 for User Experience when the page opens. That last number seems odd to me as the page on my iPhone requires sideways scrolling to view. Not all of the MyIntuition heading is visible. (At Wellesley, the Speed rating is a very low 44 but once downloaded the entire page is visible.)

Follow the Link of the Week

To see how a public university has adopted the MyIntuition approach to countering tuition price sticker shock, visit the University of Virginia “Affording UVA” page and scroll down until you arrive at “How much will UVA cost me?

Original Link of the Week Page

Regular readers will notice that we are again posting a Link of the Week selection within the blog. I’ve decided to continue posting new Link selections here. Each week’s description is available to future visitors and the blog is searchable.

To review earlier selections for 2016 and previous years, visit the Link of the Week Archive page.

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