TRI-STATE (WFIE) -
Parents and students in the Tri-State are doing their homework Wednesday night, checking out the new College Scorecard website.
The website mentioned by President Obama Tuesday night in the State of the Union message helps students and parents calculate education costs to pick the right school for them.
It's really easy to get started. Once you're on the site, you can search for a college directly or narrow down your search by size of college or by major.
It even lays out monthly payments when it comes to repaying those student loans.
Less than 24 hours after it's launch, parents are giving an "A" to College Scorecard.
"It's a helpful tool, otherwise they're on the Internet. They're looking at a lot of other places," parent Vernon Germano said.
"Any information that we can get in terms of what would best fit our child's needs, I think could be very helpful," parent Paula Yevincy said.
Shane Davidson with the University of Evansville says the scorecard is like a snapshot, giving families cost estimates, numbers on borrowing, and even the loan default rate against the national average.
"This is just one portion of the search process. If we can get students to our campus, have them interact with our faculty. That by far is the most robust experience a student can have," Davidson said.
The EVSC already has a link on its website to help students prepare for the future.
"It just hones the list down so much better than having to list, you know all of the options," EVSC's Marsha Jackson said.
Yevincy has a son at Memorial High. She says they'll use the website to help calculate her son's future out-of-pocket costs.
"Certainly, we're all concerned about the cost of education and the amount of debt that our kids could come out with," Yevincy said.
Giving everyone a little more peace of mind.
"Actually, I'll go home and let my son know what the address is so that he can take a look at it," Germano said.
The college scorecard is up and running. Click here for the College Scorecard.
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