A reasonable person would assume that the cost of an undergraduate education would be easy to calculate. Unfortunately, calculating the "True Cost" is complicated.

In a December, 2021, blog, Jenny Rickard, President and CEO of Common App, stated that its goal is to create “a college admissions process that sparks joy rather than anxiety.” For those students applying to the most highly selective colleges, and for those whose financial aid awards will ultimately determine if, or where, they matriculate, that goal, while admirable, is probably not attainable. An analogy, perhaps, would be to suggest that students and alumni of a lower-seeded NCAA March Madness basketball team could, prior to and during the game, watch with no anxiety – only joy. Highly unlikely! Whether the Common App goal, joy rather than anxiety, is relevant for all students is debatable, but it could be more broadly defined to include a second cohort: colleges’ Enrollment staffs.

The title "college" or "university" does not imply quality differences. Amherst, Haverford, Pomona, and Swarthmore are among the very best undergraduate programs, but none offer graduate degrees. Harvard College is the undergraduate component of Harvard University.