Can Price-First Admissions Improve College Access?

As concerns about affordability continue to shape enrollment decisions nationwide, colleges are exploring ways to provide students and families with clearer information about costs earlier in the admissions process. Cornell College is among the institutions testing that approach through a “price-first” admissions model that offers financial aid estimates before students even apply.

Launched in 2025, the Iowa liberal arts college’s Save Your Seat program provides prospective students with nonbinding financial aid estimates before they submit an application, giving families a clearer picture of potential costs at the start of the college search process.

During the program’s first year, Cornell sent an estimated 20,000 aid projections to prospective students. College officials said nearly one-fifth of the incoming fall 2026 class committed to Cornell after receiving a Save Your Seat estimate, suggesting that earlier cost information may play a significant role in students’ college decision-making.

While net price calculators have long helped applicants estimate college costs, Cornell officials said the calculators often require students and families to actively seek out information and navigate financial questions they may not fully understand. Save Your Seat instead provides personalized estimates directly to prospective students.

Wendy Beckemeyer, vice president for enrollment management at Cornell College, said the estimates have largely matched students’ eventual financial aid packages. The few exceptions involved circumstances that are difficult to capture in predictive modeling, such as family business ownership or significant assets.

“A student today would receive an estimate that is specific to them, and they can go to that link and see exactly what an estimated financial aid award at Cornell looks like,” Beckemeyer said. “It’s a really wonderful thing at this stage … to have this kind of insight, whether it’s for Cornell or another institution.”

Price-first admissions model: Beckemeyer said the program provides cost information about five to six months earlier than the typical Free Application for Federal Student Aid timeline, allowing families to begin evaluating affordability before receiving formal financial aid offers.

“While the net price calculator is a really great resource for families, there aren’t as many people using it as would be helpful, and there’s questions in that net price calculator that a lot of students don’t know the answers to,” Beckemeyer said. Students may not know how to calculate household income, determine dependency status or answer other financial aid–related questions accurately, she added.

Beckemeyer said the program is still in its early stages, and Cornell plans to conduct a postenrollment analysis to assess who is attending and how the Save Your Seat initiative is affecting outcomes. She said Cornell received roughly twice as many FAFSA submissions since it launched the program last year, suggesting students may be engaging with the financial aid process earlier in their college search.

The initiative is part of the college’s efforts to reach students who may be uncertain about whether a private liberal arts education is financially viable, she said. About one-quarter of Cornell students are Pell eligible and nearly 30 percent are students of color—groups that often have heightened concerns about college affordability and access.

“When I think about first-generation students … or from communities where there aren’t necessarily as many students going to college, we are providing a service to those students, for sure. I feel very confident about that,” Beckemeyer said.

Why this matters: When Cornell launched the program, officials were uncertain how students and families would respond to the college’s approach. Early feedback, however, has been positive, Beckemeyer said.

“There are so many people in this environment that are stressed about affordability; they’re concerned that they’re not going to be able to go to the institution they really want to,” Beckemeyer said. “So they were so happy to see the accessibility of an institution like Cornell.”

“If they’re interested in a private college, I hope that they will continue to pursue those options,” she added. “If they’re interested in something else, that’s absolutely fine, too, but at least they know this is what it looks like to go to a private institution, and so that doesn’t appear out of reach just because they don’t have the information.”

She said institutions have a responsibility to provide clearer cost information earlier in the process, and that Cornell’s Save Your Seat model is designed to do just that.

“When students don’t have any cushion, they may think about leaving college or just giving up,” she said. “Programs like this create certainty, and certainty is a cushion. From a student success standpoint, it just gives them one more layer of support.”

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