The Department of Education launched a new interactive tool that helps those interested in furthering their education stay on a budget. Named the College Affordability and Transparency Center, the tool ranks both public and private colleges and universities by affordability. The best part is that it not only shows their published tuition prices but also ranks them by their ‘net price’ – which includes prices outside of tuition like room and board, book fees and financial aid are all taken into consideration.  Check out these five colleges that are slashing tuition for 2012.