Education Department Releases 2027-28 College Aid Comparison Materials

The U.S. Department of Education has released the materials for the 2027-28 College Financing Plan, giving colleges and software providers a federal template for presenting financial-aid and college-cost information.

The department announced the publication on September 8, 2026. Its College Financing Plan resource page, last reviewed September 9, lists undergraduate and graduate/professional forms, technical guides, HTML specifications and an FAQ updated September 8.

What students may see

The College Financing Plan is designed to put major costs and sources of aid into a more consistent format so prospective students and families can compare institutions before deciding where to enroll.

The undergraduate technical guide lists estimated cost-of-attendance categories including tuition and fees, housing and food, books and supplies, transportation and other education expenses. The form may also show a student’s Student Aid Index based on the FAFSA or on an institution’s own methodology, along with scholarships, grants and VA education benefits.

It can identify an estimated net price, federal Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized Loan options, work-study or other campus work and additional payment choices such as payment plans or private financing. The department defines net price as the estimated cost of attendance after grants and scholarships are taken into account. It is not automatically the student’s final bill, the exact amount a family must pay out of pocket or the total amount the student may eventually borrow.

Most colleges can decide whether to use it

The publication does not create one mandatory award-letter format for every college. The department describes the College Financing Plan as an option for institutions. A school may use it as a replacement for, or a supplement to, its existing financial-aid award letter.

That distinction matters when families compare offers. Colleges may continue to use different documents, labels and presentation methods during the 2027-28 award year, even though they have access to the federal template.

The plan also does not set tuition or change a student’s FAFSA result, grant amount, loan eligibility, interest rate or origination fee. A recommended loan amount shown on the form should not be treated as the maximum amount a student is eligible to borrow. The department’s FAQ says the recommended amount may be different from the eligible amount and may be zero.

Special rule for some military-connected students

Institutions that have agreed to comply with the Principles of Excellence under Executive Order 13607 are expected to provide the standardized form to covered service members, veterans, military spouses and other eligible military family members who qualify for federal military or veterans’ education benefits and have applied for federal Title IV aid using the FAFSA. The form should be provided before enrollment.

This provision does not make the form mandatory for every college or for every student. Other institutions that adopt the plan are expected to provide it to students who applied for Title IV aid, generally before enrollment and once a year.

What colleges and software vendors do next

The department’s HTML specifications and technical guides are intended to help institutions and software providers populate the form from existing data systems. Electronic versions can include a download feature that lets students save their aid information as a machine-readable XML file.

The materials give colleges and vendors time to prepare systems for the 2027-28 award year. They do not guarantee that every institution will adopt the plan or display aid information in an identical format.

A checklist for comparing aid offers

Students should ask whether a college will provide the 2027-28 College Financing Plan and whether it will accompany or replace the school’s regular award letter.

When comparing offers:

Compare estimated net price, not just tuition or the headline scholarship amount.
Separate grants and scholarships from loans and work-study when estimating how much must be paid or borrowed.
Check whether scholarships and grants are renewable, and review the academic or enrollment conditions that could change them in later years.
Review the loan type, recommended amount, interest rate and origination fee. Do not assume that borrowing is required or that the recommended amount is the maximum available.
Confirm payment deadlines and ask the financial-aid office how estimates may differ from the final bill.

Families can also use the Education Department’s College Affordability and Transparency Center and College Scorecard for broader information about college costs, institutional characteristics and outcomes. Those tools provide comparison context; they do not replace a college’s personalized aid offer.

Sources

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