When is a price not a price? When the stated retail cost of a year at any college diverges dramatically from what students actually cost, you can't effectively factor price into your initial college search. Amy and Mike invited educational expert Mark Salisbury to explain the importance of and path to college price transparency.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. Why isn't a college's "sticker price" enough to understand how much a student actually pays?

2. Why do undergraduate financial offers arrive too late to inform college choice?

3. How can a database of actual college prices facilitate more informed school choices?

4. How effective are standard Net Price Calculators?

5. In what ways does price transparency benefit colleges?

MEET OUR GUEST

Dr. Mark Salisbury has spent over 30years in higher education. His first decade was as a soccer coach and admissions counselor. He then returned to school and earned a PhD in higher education at the University of Iowa, studying college student access and success as a researcher on the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education and a member of the Teagle Scholars. Since then, he has published both academic research and more mainstream writing on higher ed, including commentaries for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, interviews with NPR, and the blog, Delicious Ambiguity. From 2010 to 2018, he was an Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Institutional Research and Assessment at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.

In addition, Mark has done consulting work for colleges and universities over the past decade on how to use data to improve in areas like recruiting, financial aid leveraging, admissions, student retention, graduation, and post-college outcomes. He started the TuitionFit project in the summer of 2018 and continues to be an enthusiastic advocate for the benefits of price transparency for both students and colleges.

Find Mark at https://www.tuitionfit.org/

LINKS

TuitionFit

Mark's TEDx Talk

The trouble with Net Price Calculators

2026 Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars

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NEGOTIATING A FINANCIAL AWARD LETTER

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SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: TUITIONFIT COLLABORATIVE

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright, Roots2Words, and College Eagle. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you're interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, get in touch through our contact page.

Choosing a college often entails deciding where you'll live for the next four to possibly fifty-four years. Why, then, do so many applicants select their new homes without properly evaluating them? Amy and Mike invited student entrepreneur Evan Goldstein to discuss creating better college visits.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. Can you truly understand a college without visiting campus?

2. What should every high schooler ask a current college student before committing to a school?

3. What can current college students tell you that admissions offices can't?

4. How much does the person showing you around campus shape your perception of a college?

5. Why does timing play such an important role in effective college visits?

MEET OUR GUEST

Evan Goldstein is a member of the Class of 2028 at Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon. In the summer of 2025, he co-founded Quadzio with his older brother Jack, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, to bring greater transparency and a student perspective to the college admissions process.

Built around the philosophy of "Fit Over Prestige," Quadzio connects high school students one-on-one with current college students, giving prospective applicants a candid, firsthand look at the schools they're considering beyond traditional tours, rankings, and admissions materials.

Evan has been featured in Chris Rapozo and Rob Clark's higher education book Attention Gap for his perspective on college admissions and has shared his experiences on several podcasts. Outside of the classroom and his work with Quadzio, Evan is passionate about college sports and Mock Trial.

Evan can be reached at egoldstein@quadzio.com.

LINKS

Campus Visits That Count: What Questions to Ask Before You Commit

RELATED EPISODES

MAKING THE MOST OF COLLEGE VISITS

MAKING THE MOST OF A VIRTUAL COLLEGE ADMISSIONS EVENT

HOW TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH COLLEGES

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright, Roots2Words, and College Eagle. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you're interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, get in touch through our contact page.

About 66% of American students FAIL to earn their bachelor's degrees in four years. Yet, those extra years of college come at a tremendous cost. Amy and Mike invited educational consultant Edie Steele to explore the benefits and challenges around finishing a four-year degree on time.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. Why does finishing a four-year degree on time matter?

2. What academic issues keep students from finishing college on time?

3. What credit and career planning issues keep students from finishing college on time?

4. What role do or should colleges play in facilitating on-time completion?

5. How can parents prepare high schoolers to finish their degrees on time?

MEET OUR GUEST

Edie Steele's expertise was honed as an Academic Advisor and Student Retention Director at diverse colleges and universities. Her Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership from the College of William and Mary enabled Edie to understand key factors driving student success, and the larger forces that shape and define the American higher education system. Her Master's degree in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia strengthened Edie's skills in supporting individual students. Edie's background includes Career Exploration with students and Admissions Counseling positions at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Edie now coaches students privately through Finish in Four, LLC with a simple goal of helping students finish college on time. With high school and college students in tailored sessions, remotely and in person, she works to identify potential roadblocks, teach students how to navigate college structures, and provide strategies for academic, social and career success. Edie also presents to groups of parents and students about academic success and a dream of a college education pursued the right way: on time and on budget!

Find Edie Steele at www.finishin4.org.

RELATED EPISODES

HOW TO PERSIST TO COLLEGE GRADUATION

GALLUP ALUMNI SURVEY AND THE SIX COLLEGE EXPERIENCES THAT DRIVE SUCCESS

ADVANTAGES OF DUAL ENROLLMENT

EARNING ADVANCE COLLEGE CREDIT

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright, Roots2Words, and College Eagle. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you're interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, get in touch through our contact page.