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<p>Try comparing state schools with private colleges, using College Abacus or the NPCs, for various family income levels. I’ve found that, below a fairly high income level, the so-called “full need” private colleges (<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014</a>) tend to compete pretty well on price. Below is an example.</p>
<p>Assumptions
Maryland resident
$120,000 family income (split evenly between married parents); $5K in untaxed income
$100,000 in financial assets; $25K in cash/checking
$50K in home equity (house purchased in the year 2000 for $300K )
$12K paid in federal income taxes
2 children, 1 age 14, 1 age 16 (HS junior), 4 exemptions
HS junior has 4.0 GPA, top 5%, 1450 M+CR</p>
<p>Estimated Net Costs of Attendance
$30,147 Arizona State University ($8K total aid, out of state)
$27,322 Boston College ($27,322 total aid)
$26,361 Barnard College ($37,659 total aid)
$24,630 University of Richmond, a private LAC ($35,000 total aid)
$23,100 Stanford ($37,700 total aid)
$21,106 Amherst College ($43,300 total aid)
$20,837 University of Maryland College Park ($2.5K total aid, in-state)
$19,448 Yale ($41,852 total aid)
$19,010 Colby College ($40,500 total aid)</p>
<p>Using College Abacus, I could not get a response for the University of Alabama when I ran this query. In the recent past, when I ran a similar query but for a much less affluent family ($80K AGI), the net cost I got for Alabama was $18,104. That is less than all of the above, but not dramatically less than Colby or Yale. Using the same assumptions in that query ($80K AGI), I came up with lower net costs than Alabama’s for Vanderbilt, Colgate, Tufts, and Boston College. </p>