Today the Minnesota Office of higher Education (OHE) introduces Award Advisor, a free, user-friendly tool designed to help students and families navigate one of the most complex decisions in a student’s college journey: understanding and comparing financial aid offers. Award Advisor ™ was developed by the Vermont Student Assistance Corp., and OHE is an Award Advisor Network Partner.
Typically, a college acceptance is accompanied by a financial aid package, detailed in an award letter. Each college award letter presents aid information differently, which can make it difficult to compare to other schools’ awards. Facing the cost of tuition and the potential of taking on student loans, students across the country are often making life-changing college decisions based upon a handful of often confusing and inconsistent award letters. Comparing them side-by-side to decide can feel like comparing apples and oranges.
Award Advisor was created to provide clarity, transparency, and confidence, empowering students and families to make informed decisions about the true cost of college.
The Challenge
Students and families often struggle to answer simple questions from their award letters:
- What is free money versus loans?
- What needs to be paid back?
- What is the actual cost after aid?
Each college presents aid information differently, making comparisons difficult. Award Advisor tackles this longstanding challenge, providing consistent, understandable, and comparable data.
How Award Advisor Helps
Award Advisor is particularly powerful for first-generation students and modest-income families, fostering meaningful “kitchen table” conversations about financial obligations and tradeoffs.
For high school counselors and advisors, the platform eliminates much of the manual work involved in interpreting aid letters, allowing them to focus on guidance and decision-making rather than repetitive calculations and explanations. Colleges benefit as well: students who understand their costs upfront are more likely to enroll with confidence, reducing financial misunderstandings and lowering the risk of stop-outs.
Simple, Transparent, and Free
Using Award Advisor is easy:
- Download the app onto your iPhone or Android device.
- Register with basic information.
- Add schools and scan financial aid letters.
Award Advisor’s engine translates each award letter into consistent, common terms. Students can view information at a high level or dive into detailed breakdowns, with transparency back to the original award letter language. They can also include their own personal funds to see a complete picture of their unique college financing situation.
The app offers two clear comparison views:
- Detailed breakdown: Gift aid, loans, other aid, and remaining gap.
- Simplified view: Free money versus student obligation.
Students can export translated award letters into standardized award letter PDFs for family or counselor discussions, or export comparison data to Excel or Google Sheets for deeper analysis. Award Advisor transforms a confusing collection of letters into clear, actionable information.
A Trusted Resource
Award Advisor is designed as a trusted resource at a critical moment. The app allows students and families to explore nonprofit-only student loan providers if needed to fill gaps, but it contains no traditional advertising. Its goal is singular: helping students and families make better, more informed financial decisions about college.
Availability
Award Advisor™ is available now for free on iPhone and Android devices. Families and counselors are encouraged to explore the app and see how clarity can change the college decision process.
Learn more and download the app at awardadvisor.org.
About Award Advisor™
Award Advisor™ empowers students and families to navigate the financial aid process with confidence. By providing clarity, transparency, and actionable information, it transforms complex financial aid letters into understandable data, supporting smarter college choices and reducing financial stress.
