The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in its infancy, but already it’s taking steps to create tools that can help people in a very real way. It rolled out a beta version of a cost comparison shopping tool, aimed at guiding students and their families through the process of researching financial aid options.

On its site, the CFPB notes how tough it can be to navigate schools, grants, loans and all the various financial dealings involved in going to college. Their new prototype Financial Aid Comparison Shopper is one way they’re trying to help with all of that information.

Our goal is to give parents and students, especially high school seniors, an easy-to-understand view of how their decisions today will impact their debt burdens after graduation. This tool helps users make side-by-side cost comparisons between schools, tailored to their unique financial circumstances and estimated costs of attendance.

The tool isn’t in its final form yet, and the CFPB is urging consumers to test it out for themselves and provide feedback that could impact its functionality before the full launch.

Try it out and let them know if it was useful, informative, easy or hard to navigate, or any other comments and criticism.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.