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In this week's edition: Colleges could standardize financial aid information to make it easier to compare — but they don’t. A new study has found that early intervention services improve children’s test scores, even years down the road. 

_{Credit: Elena Lacey for The Hechinger Report}

How much will that college cost you? Good luck figuring it out

Financial aid offer letters are supposed to tell families how much they will have to pay for college, which can be the deciding factor in where — or even whether — students go to college. But too often, the letters leave out important information and use terms that make it confusing to figure out the final cost. 

Some student advocates say the letters are downright deceptive. Others believe the lack of consistent language causes confusion; each college has its own format with its own vocabulary. This can make it difficult to answer the critical question: How much will this cost me?

For over a decade, college access groups have been lobbying for a bill in Congress that would require all colleges to use the same, clearly labeled, standard form — kind of like nutrition labels on food — so families could accurately compare offers. But college associations and others have worked to block it.

We reviewed actual offer letters received last year, with names redacted to protect the privacy of the students. See what you find confusing.

This week's newsletter is sponsored by: 

“This book will change the way you think about education. It will inspire and guide you. It’s the kind of book that comes along once in a generation.” —John Legend

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The Hechinger Report is hosting a webinar about the growing movement to curb screen time and technology use in the early grades. The event will be at 3:30 p.m. ET April 23. Registration is required. The webinar will be recorded for those who register to attend.   

Early intervention services for young children boost later test scores

A first-of-its-kind study has found that early intervention services — which can include occupational, physical and speech therapies, among others — improve children’s test scores, even years down the road. 

The study, conducted jointly by researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the New York City Health Department, showed that children who received the services between birth and age 3 outperformed similar peers on third grade reading and math tests.

Early intervention services are intended for children with disabilities, developmental delays or those who are at risk of them, such as children who are born severely premature. Federal law mandates such services, but states design their own programs and set their own funding levels.

I was especially interested in these findings after reporting several stories on early intervention, including one on racial disparities in access to services and another on the broken pipeline from the neonatal intensive care unit to receiving the crucial therapies.

Countless parents have described to me the pivotal role that early intervention played for their children. Jaclyn Vasquez, a Chicago mother, credits the timely start of more than a half-dozen therapies with her daughter’s thriving years later in elementary school. 

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