See the next four years before you sign
A college decision is a four-year financial commitment made with one-year information. The Financial Impact workspace projects annual costs, total costs, and debt for every school on your list — then sharpens those projections with real award letters as offers arrive.
How it works
From estimates to offer-grade analysis
Analyze every school
Each college on your list gets an annual cost breakdown, a four-year projection with cost inflation built in, and a debt analysis — all measured against your family's recommended budget.
Test your assumptions
Add savings, monthly contributions, and expected scholarships, then run what-if scenarios: What if income changes? What if we save more? What if a scholarship comes through?
Decide with real offers
When award letters arrive, upload them. Offer-specific figures replace the estimates, and the same analyses re-run on real numbers — including appeal support when an offer falls short.
One workspace, connected analyses
Every angle of the money question
Each analysis feeds the others — change an input once and see it ripple across your entire list.
Annual cost breakdowns
Tuition, room and board, books, and other expenses netted against aid — with a clear verdict on how each school compares to your annual budget.
Four-year projections
Year-by-year cost projections that account for annual cost increases, your savings, ongoing contributions, and expected scholarships.
Debt analysis
Projected borrowing, estimated monthly payments after graduation, total interest over the life of the loan, and a debt risk level for every school.
What-if scenarios
Adjust income, monthly savings, scholarships, and interest rates to see the before/after impact on every school at once.
Portfolio comparison
See your whole list side by side against your annual budget — which schools fit, which stretch, and which are over budget.
Exportable worksheets
Export financial worksheets and comparisons to share with your family or a counselor.
Award letters, put to work
Real offers make the analysis sharper
Before offers arrive, every figure is a clearly labeled estimate or projection. When a financial aid award letter lands, upload the PDF or a photo — CollegeDI reads the cost of attendance, grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study, and asks you to review the parsed numbers before saving.
From that point on, the annual breakdown, four-year projection, and debt analysis for that school run on the school's actual offer — not a guess. Uploading a second or third letter turns your comparison into a real decision tool.
When an offer falls short
Appeal with your numbers in hand
Financial aid offers can be appealed — but a persuasive appeal needs specifics. CollegeDI drafts an editable appeal letter built from the school's current offer, your documented affordability gap, competing offers already in your list, and the family circumstances you choose to share.
Track each appeal from draft to submitted to resolved. If the school grants more aid, record it — and your financial analysis immediately reflects the improved offer.
Editable appeal drafts
A structured letter with a subject line, summary points, and suggested attachments — downloadable as a document you can edit and send yourself.
Grounded in your data
Drafts reference your real affordability gap and competing offers, so the ask is specific instead of generic.
Outcomes feed back in
A granted appeal updates the school's net cost across the annual, four-year, and debt analyses.
Status tracking
Keep drafts, submissions, and resolutions organized per school — right on your college list.
Assumptions, out in the open
Projections you can interrogate
Every projection states its assumptions — including the annual cost-increase rate — and every figure is labeled by source: income-based estimate, college-wide average, or parsed award letter. Document parsing asks you to review and confirm the extracted numbers rather than assuming they're perfect, and appeal assistance improves your case without guaranteeing the school says yes.
CollegeDI provides planning tools and estimates, not professional financial advice. The goal is that when you make the final call, you know exactly what you're agreeing to — and what would have to change to make a different school work.
Make the decision with eyes open
Start with your assessment, build your list, and see the full financial picture before deposit day.