How should I compare Vanderbilt and Georgetown financial aid packages by true net cost?

Compare the offers by rebuilding each into the same one-year budget: the school’s full cost of attendance minus only guaranteed scholarships and grants. Do not subtract federal loans, parent loans, or work-study from net cost, because those are ways to pay or earn money rather than gift aid. Your FAFSA Student Aid Index, often still called an expected family contribution, is also not an additional charge; it is an aid-formula estimate, so use the actual billed and expected expenses in each offer.

For Vanderbilt, list tuition, mandatory fees, housing, food, books, personal expenses, health insurance if you will need the school plan, and travel to Nashville. For Georgetown, use the equivalent figures, paying particular attention to Washington, DC-area transportation and personal costs, as well as any difference in housing or meal-plan assumptions. Put each school’s institutional grant, merit scholarship, federal Pell Grant if applicable, and state grants in a separate “gift aid” column, then subtract that total from its full cost of attendance.

Create a second column labeled “cash due or needed this year.” Include the net cost plus realistic expenses not fully captured by the school budget, but keep loans separate: note the amount borrowed, interest rate, origination fee, and whether it is student or parent borrowing. Work-study should be treated as potential earnings, not an upfront discount, since it requires finding and working a job and may be paid gradually.

Finally, check the award letters for renewal conditions. A package with a slightly higher first-year net cost can still be less expensive overall if its grant is clearly renewable and reduces the need for parent or private borrowing.