(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa college is using a new method to give prospective students more accurate information about the cost to attend. Cornell College in Mount Vernon is sending personalized cost estimates directly to students through a program called Save Your Seat. Wendy Beckemeyer, Cornell’s vice president of enrollment, says the system is designed to help families who may not know about net price calculation tools. Beckemeyer says, “The idea behind Save Your Seat is to take away the friction and to use the tools that we can, that we have available to us, and the information that we have to send each student a refined estimate.”

Those estimates are based on calculations from the U.S. Department of Education and a database of financial aid information from within the school. Beckemeyer says the approach is meant to make the college application process easier for students. “This has really resonated with families, this clarity in the conversations we’ve had with parents, they are excited because they see a pathway to Cornell for their student. It is relieving a lot of anxiety that people generally feel about the unknown.”

In late June, the school sent out more than 19-thousand postcards and 16-thousand emails to prospective students. Beckemeyer says she’s already seeing the estimates spur students to move forward in the application process.