College Board acquires MyinTuition to demystify college costs
What's the deal? The College Board has acquired MyinTuition, a tool that gives students and families quick, personalised estimates of what college will actually cost. MyinTuition currently delivers roughly 800,000 estimates per year across 69 colleges and universities, and the acquisition aims to scale that reach to millions of students nationwide.
Founded by Wellesley College economics professor Phillip Levine, MyinTuition offers two tools: an instant estimator that provides a cost range based on minimal input, and a quick estimator that delivers a more personalised figure after just six questions.
Why now? Most Americans significantly overestimate the cost of college, according to the Strada Education Foundation. Sticker prices mislead, and the financial aid process confuses. That gap between perception and reality discourages students from even applying.
The College Board — which already runs the SAT, AP exams, and the FAFSA alternative CSS Profile — sees an opportunity to embed cost transparency earlier in the college search. "Students deserve to understand what college will truly cost early in their journey," said Kedra Ishop, senior vice president of higher education at the College Board.
What could go wrong? The College Board is a nonprofit, but it already wields enormous influence over college admissions. Adding a cost estimation tool to its portfolio could raise concerns about how much of the higher education pipeline one organisation should control — and whether the data it collects could be used in ways families don't expect.
There's also the question of accuracy. Estimates are not offers. If students treat a quick estimate as a guarantee, they could face sticker shock when actual aid packages arrive.
The signal: This acquisition fits a broader push to make college affordability information available before students commit — not after. It also reflects growing pressure on institutions to justify their prices amid declining public trust in higher education's value proposition.
"MyinTuition was created to simplify a process that has long been confusing and discouraging for too many families," Levine said. "By joining College Board, we have an incredible opportunity to scale this work."
If the integration works, it could set a new standard for how colleges communicate costs. If it doesn't, it becomes another layer of bureaucracy in a system already drowning in it.
Read more: newsroom.collegeboard.org
