college-cost
Compute what a degree will actually cost — sticker minus real aid, inflated per year, split into cash and loans, with the loan's decade-long monthly tail made visible before enrollment instead of after. Use when asked what will college really cost, compare these two offers' real prices, how much loan payment after graduation, or is this school affordable. Produces the all-in number from the script, the offer-letter decode (grants vs loans untangled), the monthly-tail reality check, and the two-school comparison.
npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill college-cost --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# College Cost Skill The two numbers that matter — the true all-in cost, and the monthly payment for the decade after — appear nowhere on the marketing or, tellingly, the financial-aid letter, which routinely blends grants (free) with loans (very much not) into one cheerful "award." This skill computes both numbers: net cost per year with aid honestly sorted, inflated forward (tuition outruns CPI), split into cash and borrowed, and the borrowed part converted into the graduate's first decade of monthly reality. Two offers become comparable the moment both are run through it. ## What This Skill Produces - **The all-in number** — net 4-year cost, cash vs. borrowed, from the script - **The offer decode** — the award letter's lines sorted: grants/scholarships (free) vs. loans (repaid) vs. work-study (earned) — the blend untangled - **The monthly tail** — the post-graduation payment, term, and total interest, stated next to a starting-salary reality check - **The comparison** — two+ schools on identical assumptions, which the letters never are ## Required Inputs Ask for these if not provided: - **The sticker** — full cost of attendance (tuition + room/board + fees, not tuition alone — t
- What This Skill Produces
- Required Inputs
- Programmatic Helper
- Framework: The Honest-Number Rules
- Output Format
- The All-In Number
- The Offer, Decoded
- The Monthly Tail
- [If comparing] The Table
- Quality Checks
- Anti-Patterns
python3 scripts/college_cost.py --sticker 32000 --aid 14000 python3 scripts/college_cost.py --sticker 32000 --aid 14000 --loan-share 60 --loan-apr 6.5 --json
What does the college-cost skill do?
Compute what a degree will actually cost — sticker minus real aid, inflated per year, split into cash and loans, with the loan's decade-long monthly tail made visible before enrollment instead of after. Use when asked what will college really cost, compare these two offers' real prices, how much loan payment after graduation, or is this school affordable. Produces the all-in number from the script, the offer-letter decode (grants vs loans untangled), the monthly-tail reality check, and the two-school comparison.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill college-cost --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills, a repository with 1,255 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.