cptofthehouse

Like Mom2collegekids, I have seen Perkins and SEOG mentioned when as she says, those are not grants anyone can count on getting, including the college. I think it's a bit early to use these NPCs except as an average feel.

What I have suggested to families is to look at the kid's test score. Look at the % of kids at that number. Look at the merit awards. Look at the percentage of kids getting merit aid and halve it. Look at the amount of average aid and them look at the likelyhood of getting it. Do the same with financial aid when the school does not tend to meet full need. Usually it's the kids with the highest test scores that get the top awards, Not always, but the ones with those scores do tend to do better in awards the vast majority of times.

2collegewego

I wish we could start a thread on actual schools. My experience with NPCs has been quite positive. For the meet full needs schools, they have been right on the money. For the other schools, they underestimated aid. Oh, and I am self-employed so you would not expect the NPC to low-ball the offers.

ace550

2collegewego,

Yes, I heard about that too. I have been asking that question (NPC vs. the actual aid) in a few posts. People complain about the actual aid being too low. But, not too many are interested in sharing the actual numbers and circumstances. I think that posters are just not comfortable disclosing the info. The simple format can be like this:

School:
NPC= X (Student + parent)
Actual EFC = X+Y

Actually, this may not be a bad idea for USNWR to rank the schools based upon NPC accuracy. For now, I have set the maximum EFC based upon each school's NPC calculator to narrow down DS3's application. If he can get in any, I will have to check with the schools to find out the EFCs for all 4 years. And, I will be happy to share.

GolfFather

Well, they've all been accurate in one sense, I guess.
All of them say I'll have to sell my soul to the devil in order to pay for my children's college education.

We'll see if that is true starting early next year.

mibsprincess

ace550; if people are not willing to give out actual numbers they might be willing to give a percentage. They shouble be able to state that college X gave out 2% more in aid than the estimate while College Y was 5% below the estimate. I would love to see that list.

cptofthehouse

If the calculators are accurate "on average", which I believe they are, then when you tally up a poll as to how accurate they are, they are going to come up accurate "on average" The only way to see how off they are is to see an actual talley showing each person's result, not a consolidated list.