The real cost of every college on your kid’s list — in five minutes.
No more calculators, tabs, or contradictory advice. Tell us their schools, scores, and what they care about. We run the financial-aid math, check the fine print, and send back one ranked playbook you can actually use.
- $99 one-time
- ·
- About five minutes
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- 100% sourced
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- No school kickbacks
- 50
- Schools with verified policy excerpts in our ledger
- 100%
- Of claims cite a named, dated source
- 0
- Referral fees or kickbacks from any school
- Under 5 min
- From paid intake to a delivered playbook
From intake to playbook, in three steps.
- 01
Send your kid’s profile.
Schools, GPA and test scores if available, activities, intended majors, and priorities.
- 02
We check each school’s aid rules.
Merit awards, stacking limits, renewal terms, deadlines, and policy traps.
- 03
You get a ranked playbook.
Pursue, Backup, or Skip — with sources and next actions.
A ranked plan for your kid’s actual schools.
Not generic college advice. One plain-English playbook showing which schools are financially worth pursuing, what aid to claim, and what rules can erase it.
- 01
A verdict on every school — Pursue, Backup, or Skip.
See which schools are financially worth chasing, which need caution, and which are likely not worth the cost.
- 02
Verified merit awards with estimated dollar amounts.
Automatic, honors, departmental, named institutional, and major-specific awards we can verify from school policy.
- 03
The fine print that can shrink or erase aid.
Stacking caps. Displacement clauses. Renewal GPA rules. Priority deadlines. Award limits most families miss.
- 04
A prioritized action list.
What to do this week, this month, and before May 1 — ordered by what can actually affect your bill.
- 05
Sources on every claim.
Every dollar figure, deadline, and policy rule links back to the school’s published source. Unclear rules are labeled clearly.
Read a real sample before you buy.
Built for Emma R., a 3.94 / 1480 cellist applying to TCU, The Master’s University, and Vanderbilt. A full playbook is about twelve pages of personalized analysis: verdict per school, every verified merit award with dollar amounts, stacking and renewal rules that apply to her exact profile, and a source on every claim.
Built from a real applicant profile. Name and identifying details changed.
Questions families actually ask.
01How is this different from a college counselor?+
A college counselor helps with fit, essays, applications, and admissions strategy. MeritPlaybook focuses narrowly on the money side: which schools, scholarships, deadlines, and policy rules can actually lower your final bill.
02Why “five minutes” — is this just AI?+
The intake takes about five minutes. The playbook is built from your kid’s school list and profile, then checked against current school policies. AI helps move faster, but the recommendations are tied to source links, dollar amounts, deadlines, and policy rules — not summaries we made up.
03What about FAFSA and need-based aid?+
MeritPlaybook does not replace FAFSA or the CSS Profile. We focus on merit aid and school-specific policy rules, and we flag where need-based aid, stacking rules, or displacement could affect the final bill.
04What if my kid is applying to more than five schools?+
The base playbook covers up to five schools. Start with the schools that are most expensive, most realistic, or most confusing. Those are usually where the biggest decisions are hiding.
05What if you get something wrong?+
Send us the source or the aid letter and we’ll review it. If we missed a published policy that changes the recommendation, we’ll revise the playbook at no charge.
06Do you sell student data?+
No. We do not sell student data, and we do not take school kickbacks. MeritPlaybook is paid by families, not colleges.
07Refunds?+
Yes. We back every playbook with a 30-day value guarantee. If your delivered playbook misses the mark, tell us what’s off and we’ll revise it for free. If you’re still not satisfied after a revision, you can request a full refund within 30 days of delivery through our contact form.
Separately, if we fail to deliver a playbook within three business days of your intake submission, you can request a full refund regardless of the rest of the policy. See our Terms for the full mechanics.
One playbook. Your kid’s actual schools. The real cost.
$99one-time · About five minutes · One ranked playbook you can act on.
Backed by a 30-day value guarantee · free revisions if we missed a published policy · full refund if we don’t deliver in three business days.