College Cost Calculator by College Azimuth, for Claude

• Can I, the student, afford it? For a school and field, it checks the yearly borrowing you enter: the total owed when repayment starts; the 10-year payment; its share of your pay above basic expenses, labeled Excellent, Good, Concerning or High risk; money left each month; and the most you can owe and stay in Good.
• Can I, the parent, afford Parent PLUS? What’s owed when repayment starts, with the interest deferred during school; the 10-year payment and its share of household income above basic expenses, labeled Safe, Caution or High pressure; what the standard plan would actually bill, and at what ages; and how much of the plan is above the new caps.
• Can we, as a family, afford it? How four years are paid for at the parents’ income: family money, federal student loans, Parent PLUS, then private loans. Whether everyone can carry the payments if each pays their own, if the family pools it, or if the student pays everything, and any split of the Parent PLUS payment in between. The loan stays in the parent’s name whoever pays it.
• What does my award letter really cost? It totals the letter into a net price, loans and work-study, and flags loans listed as aid, Parent PLUS in the package, and amounts above the federal limits.
• How do two to four schools compare on the same borrowing?
• What are the loan rules now? The dated rules: RAP, the new standard plan, Parent PLUS caps, limits, and what changed for older loans.

No College Azimuth account is needed. The College Azimuth listing in Claude’s directory is on its way; until it’s live, add the connector directly.

• claude.ai and the Claude apps: go to Customize > Connectors > + Add > Add custom connector, name it “College Cost Calculator by College Azimuth”, enter the URL https://mcp.collegeazimuth.com/mcp, choose Authentication: No sign-in and click Add. Then, in a new chat, click + in the message box, choose Connectors and switch it on. A Free account can have one custom connector.
• Claude Code: run claude mcp add --transport http college-azimuth https://mcp.collegeazimuth.com/mcp, then /mcp to check that it’s connected.
• The plugin: the College Azimuth plugin adds guidance that helps Claude ask the right follow-up questions. It’s with testers now; to try it before the directory listing, email Daniel@collegeazimuth.com.
• On Team and Enterprise plans, an Owner may need to add the connector for the organization first.

• The connector runs eight read-only tools on College Azimuth’s server. They look up a school’s published figures and compute the checks with the same rules as the Financial GPS tools on collegeazimuth.com.
• Rates, fees and the poverty guideline come from College Azimuth’s current data release, and every result names their year.
• Every loan is measured on one yardstick: the payment that clears it in ten years at the current federal rate. That’s a way to compare choices, not a repayment plan.
• The share is that payment divided by pay above a basic allowance: for students, 150% of the federal poverty guideline for one person; for parents, 200% for a household of three.

• Earnings are medians four years after graduating, so half of graduates earn less.
• The allowance is a national figure, not the cost of living where you’ll live.
• Private loan rates are assumptions until there’s lender data.
• Graduate programs aren’t covered.
• It explains repayment plans but doesn’t calculate a plan’s payments.
• Local living costs are planned for a later version.
• It’s a planning tool, not financial advice or a prediction.

• “School not found”: try the official name, the city or the state. Only schools College Azimuth publishes are covered.
• “This field has no earnings figure”: that field isn’t reported with a four-year earnings median at that school. Try “all fields” or a related field.
• “Loan terms aren’t available right now”: the current federal rates aren’t loaded. Try again later; no estimates are made without them.
• Claude isn’t using the tools: check that the connector is connected (Customize > Connectors on claude.ai; /mcp in Claude Code) and that the tools are allowed for the chat.
• Too many requests: the server limits request rates to keep the service up for everyone. Wait a minute and try again.

The connector receives only each tool’s inputs, stores none of them, and logs no incomes, ages or amounts. See our privacy policy.

Questions, problems or security reports: Daniel@collegeazimuth.com.