{"id":"life-hs-financial-aid-compare","audience":"high-school","category":"everyday-life","track":"life","technique":"grounding","title":"Compare two financial aid letters by real cost","free":false,"task":"You got two college financial aid letters and want to know what each really costs your family for one year. Count only grants and scholarships as reducing the cost, not loans or work-study, and use Riverton's revised letter. Get exactly 3 numbered lines in plain text, under 90 words: 1. Lakemont's net cost with the subtraction shown; 2. Riverton's net cost with the subtraction shown; 3. which costs less and by how much. No advice about which school to pick. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.","materialLabel":"Your two aid letters (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"LAKEMONT COLLEGE - 2027-28 FINANCIAL AID OFFER (fictional)\nStudent: Isaiah Grant\nCost of attendance (tuition, housing, meals, fees): $58,000\n\nLakemont Grant .................... $30,000\nPresidential Merit Scholarship ..... $8,000\nFederal Direct Loan ................ $5,500\nFederal Work-Study ................. $2,500\nTOTAL AID OFFERED ................. $46,000\n\"Your estimated cost after aid: $12,000!\"\n\nRIVERTON STATE UNIVERSITY - 2027-28 AWARD NOTICE (fictional)\nStudent: Isaiah Grant\nCost of attendance: $31,000\n\nState Opportunity Grant ............ $4,000\nRiverton Access Grant .............. $3,000\nFederal Direct Loan ................ $5,500\nTOTAL AID ......................... $12,500\n\nREVISED AWARD - Nov 2: After review of updated family income information, your Riverton Access Grant is now $2,000. All other awards are unchanged.\n\nMy notes:\n- Mom says Lakemont is too expensive, period.\n- My counselor says always compare the cost after grants, since loans get paid back.\n- Lakemont scholarship needs a 3.0 GPA to renew. Riverton's grants renew automatically.","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":3},{"type":"maxWords","max":90},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Trusting the letter's bottom line","why":"The AI repeats Lakemont's \"$12,000 after aid\", which treats loans you repay as if they were free money.","fix":"Add: \"Subtract only grants and scholarships. Loans and work-study don't count.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Missing the revised award","why":"The AI uses the first Riverton numbers and misses the Nov 2 revision.","fix":"Add: \"Use Riverton's revised $2,000 Access Grant.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"No math shown","why":"The AI gives net costs without the subtraction, so you can't check them.","fix":"Show it: \"1. Lakemont: $58,000 - $38,000 grants = $20,000\".","checks":["r0","r1","numberedItems"]},{"title":"Getting a decision you didn't ask for","why":"The AI weighs prestige, renewals and debt, and nudges you toward one school.","fix":"Add: \"Line 3 only says which costs less and by how much. No advice.\"","checks":["r2","plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 90 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part: \"each line under 18 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Counts only free money","patterns":["grants?","scholarships?","not (the )?loans?","free money"]},{"label":"Uses the revised award","patterns":["revis","\\$?2,?000","updated","nov(ember)? 2"]},{"label":"Shows the math","patterns":["subtract","minus","show.{0,15}(math|work)"]},{"label":"Sets the number of lines","patterns":["\\b(3|three)\\b.{0,20}(lines?|numbered)"]},{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)"]}],"hint":"Aid letters count loans as aid, which makes a school look cheaper than it is. Tell the AI what to subtract, which award is current, and to show the math.","rubricLabels":["Lakemont's net cost is $20,000, shown as $58,000 minus $38,000 in grants and scholarships, not the letter's $12,000 that subtracts the loan and work-study","Riverton's net cost is $25,000 using the revised $2,000 Access Grant ($31,000 minus $6,000), not a figure based on the original $3,000 grant","Line 3 says Lakemont costs $5,000 less for the year and doesn't tell the student which school to choose or whether to take loans"]}