One of the best things we did was work with a financial advisor when my oldest was a freshman to give us a realistic picture of what we should be looking at spending for college while being older parents, having a 2nd kid in the hopper. He recommend we spend about 1/4 of what our EFC is. Our EFC is astronomical and does not at all reflect any real number we can actually afford. Good to know that ahead[قیر](http://nilpala.com)of time. Meant my high stat kid was looking for merit and not wasting a ton of time on schools we could never afford.