The U.S. Department of Education recently unveiled the Obama Administration’s model financial aid award letter, also known as the Shopping Sheet — a personalized way to help students understand the type and amount of aid they qualify for and easily compare aid packages offered by different institutions.

The Department of Education partnered with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to develop the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet to promote transparency in student financial disclosures. The Shopping Sheet is designed to help students better understand the amount of grants and scholarships they would receive from a given institution, and the amount of loans an institution recommends a student take out to cover out-of-pocket costs. While the Shopping Sheet isn’t mandatory, this standard format should be considered a best practice in helping students to compare costs across different colleges.