Why is median grant aid used in calculating the net price rather than the mean (average)?
The net price calculator is based on median grant aid and not the mean (average). In statistics, when the frequency distribution is fairly symmetrical, mean is usually the statistic of choice in measuring central tendency. In student financial aid, the frequency distribution of aid is often not symmetrical. During development and testing of the template, it became apparent the mean (average) amount of grant aid could be highly influenced by a few special cases of large grants (outliers) and thus provide misleading information about net price to users. The median, as a measure of central tendency, is not influenced as highly as mean and as such it provides a more reliable measure. Using median instead of mean for the NPC template was endorsed by NASFAA and AIR and accepted by OPE/NCES.
