Your Money: College net price calculators and a money quiz
Test your knowledge of credit cards, buying a home, saving for college or retirement and more.
Your Money
February 2, 2026

Hi Everyone —

Just how good are the estimates that colleges make when you’re trying to find out how much they might charge if your child gets in?

Every college must provide a net price calculator by law. These N.P.C.’s ask you for data about your income and assets (and sometimes about your child’s grades). Then, they estimate how much the school might ask you to pay if your kid gets in.

Sometimes the estimates are accurate. And sometimes they’re not.

My question for you is this: If you’ve filled them out recently, how accurate were they in your situation? And if the estimate and the eventual price quote were different, were you able to figure out why? As always, we’re at yourmoney_newsletter@nytimes.com. And thank you, we are grateful for your help.

You’ll find our usual roundup of New York Times money stories from the past week and a fun quiz that tests your personal finance knowledge below.

A man wearing a grey knit cap and black headphones holds up a blazer from a store rack.

Goodwill Thrives as Americans Stretch Their Dollars

Consumers are still spending, but they’re looking for ways to stretch their dollars as far as possible.

By Kim Bhasin and Sophia June

A portrait of Rianka Dorsainvil, sitting on a navy blue velvet sofa.

How to Prevent Aging Parents and Relatives From Making Financial Mistakes

Getting family members to listen to you when you think they are headed down a dangerous financial path can be difficult. But there are preventive steps you can take.

By Paulette Perhach

How the A.I. Boom Could Push Up the Price of Your Next PC

A.I. companies are buying up memory chips, causing the prices of those components — which are also used in laptops and smartphones — to soar.

By Don Clark and Loren Elliott

Power lines and pairs of tall transmission towers with a cloudy sky above.

Three Hours of Free Power and Other Ideas to Lower Utility Bills

Energy experts said that governors and legislatures have tools to keep electricity prices from rising further, and might even be able to lower them.

By Ivan Penn and Rebecca F. Elliott

An illustration of a pair of scissors with their blades at right angles. The red finger grips look like a percentage sign. One blade is stuck into a credit card, which is broken in half.

your money adviser

Tips for Lowering Your Credit Card Interest Rate

The first step, consumer finance experts say, is to ask your card issuer to reduce the rate. And with average balances now $6,500, consider using your tax refund to put a dent in the debt.

By Ann Carrns

A bar chart showing poll respondents’ feelings about the affordability of a few items: housing, having a family and groceries. Most voters, 54 percent, think housing has become unaffordable. Nearly a third think the cost is high but still somewhat affordable. Only 13 percent think it is mostly affordable. On having a family, the numbers are similar, with 44 per cent saying it is unaffordable, 38 per cent saying it is somewhat affordable and 13 percent saying it is mostly affordable. For groceries, the numbers change more, with 28 percent saying it is unaffordable, 54 per cent saying it is somewhat affordable and 17 percent saying it is affordable.

Voters See a Middle-Class Lifestyle as Drifting Out of Reach, Poll Finds

Concerns about the affordability of education, housing, health care, having a family and retirement are driving economic anxieties, a New York Times/Siena poll found.

By Lisa Lerer, Ruth Igielnik and Camille Baker

An illustration showing fingers from several hands pointing at a robot.

Did A.I. Take Your Job? Or Was Your Employer ‘A.I.-Washing’?

As companies blame artificial intelligence for layoffs, skeptics wonder whether that explanation captures the full picture.

By Lora Kelley

A woman holds onto a portion of a pie chart that is hanging over a round abyss.

Strategies

Your ‘Safe’ Stock Funds May Be Riskier Than You Think

The U.S. stock market has become so concentrated that even broad index funds are no longer well diversified, our columnist says.

By Jeff Sommer

A person holds a yellow sign reading "HILTON: STOP HOUSING ICE," with their mouth open. Many people sit on the floor of a hotel lobby, and police officers stand behind them.

The Immigration Battle Comes, Loudly, to Budget Hotels

“No sleep” protests have used noise and other tactics to target ICE agents at hotels, leaving the owners, often immigrants themselves, caught in the middle.

By Christine Chung and Claire Fahy

A modern, long, multistory building is designed to resemble a superyacht, with curved lines and smaller floors stacked on longer floors. The building is situated beside the sea and is almost golden in the light of the setting sun.

5 Stylish Hotels for City Lovers

New accommodations around the world allow you to soak up urban culture and immerse yourself in hotel creature comforts.

By Stephanie Rosenbloom

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