Minecraft
Preparation
Lesson Narrative
Students evaluate College ROI by comparing sticker price versus net price and interpreting financial aid award letters.
Learning Goals
• Calculate the ROI of specific college degrees.
• Differentiate between sticker price and actual net price.
• Decode a financial aid award letter to identify true costs.
Student Facing Learning Goals
Let's figure out how much college actually costs and how to read the confusing financial aid letters they send us.
Student Facing Learning Targets
• I can calculate the ROI of a college degree.
• I know the difference between sticker price and net price.
• I can spot hidden loans in a financial aid letter.
Required Academic Standards
National Jump$tart Standards:
• Spending and Saving (Standard 1): Develop a plan for spending and saving.
Glossary Entries
ROI (Return on Investment): A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment.
Sticker Price: The college's published cost of attendance, including tuition, room, and board.
Net Price: The true amount a student pays to attend an institution after subtracting grants and scholarships.
Award Letter: A document from a college explaining the financial aid package being offered to a student.
Lesson
Warm Up
1.15.1: The Sticker Shock
Launch: Have students stand in randomized groups of 3 at vertical whiteboards. Present the prompt verbally. Give them 4 minutes.
Synthesis: Select two groups to share. Establish the baseline: Colleges use a high sticker price to look prestigious, but almost nobody pays it. They artificially discount it with "scholarships" to make you feel special.
Student Facing Task
A private university advertises a "Sticker Price" tuition of $75,000 a year.
1. Why do colleges intentionally advertise a massive price that almost none of their students actually pay?
2. How does getting a "$30,000 scholarship" from this school affect your psychology when choosing where to go?
Activity 1
1.15.2: Calculating Degree ROI
Launch: Keep students at whiteboards. Project the student loan scenario. Give groups 8 minutes to run the math.
Synthesis: Have the class observe the boards. (Teacher Key: Never borrow $150k for a job that pays $45k. The math doesn't care about your passion; the monthly loan payment will bankrupt you).
Student Facing Task
Student-Facing Task: Compare two students.
• Student A borrows $150,000 to go to a private school to become a Social Worker making $45,000 a year.
• Student B borrows $30,000 to go to a state school to become a Social Worker making $45,000 a year.
1. Assuming both degrees get them the exact same job, calculate the massive difference in their monthly financial stress.
2. What is "Return on Investment" (ROI)?
Activity 2
1.15.3: Decoding the Award Letter
Launch: Present a mock award letter containing grants and loans. Give groups 8 minutes to decode it.
Synthesis: Facilitate a class debate. (Key: Colleges deceptively package "Loans" (debt) and "Grants" (free money) together to make the bottom line look like $0. A loan is not a discount; it is debt).
Student Facing Task
Read the provided Award Letter. The college writes in bold letters: "Your Total Remaining Cost is $0!"
Look closer at the line items. Sort the listed aid into two columns: "Free Money" and "Money I Have to Pay Back With Interest."
1. How much federal loan debt are they trying to sign you up for?
2. What is the actual "Net Price" of this school?
Lesson Synthesis
Narrative: Bring the class back to their seats. Review the learning targets. Summarize: "College is a business transaction. You are buying a piece of paper that gives you access to a career. You must fiercely protect yourself by decoding award letters and ensuring the cost of that paper is mathematically worth the future salary."
Cool Down
1.15.4: The Deceptive Discount
Narrative: This exit ticket serves as a formative assessment on award letter literacy. Teacher Rubric: A successful response must articulate that a loan is borrowed money that must be repaid with interest, so subtracting it from the total cost to make the school look cheaper is a deceptive marketing tactic.
Student Facing Task
When a college sends you a financial aid award letter that includes $20,000 in federal student loans, why is it mathematically deceptive for the college to subtract those loans from your "Net Price"?