<p>Thanks Celeste. So gracefully worded. We fall into that category except we want to and can figure out ways to pay for college. A middle class EFC for us at least means enough financial ability to squeeze college in. One of our issues is that kid wants a career in a field that’s hard to break into. Had we been able to minimize his college bill, we’d be in better position 5 years from now to help set him up financially(say with rent for 6 months to a year). Another thing we were looking at was starting at a NM school and transferring to an expensive school that is excellent in his field of interest. Again, costs would have been better. But things always have a way of working out and it is exciting to start narrowing things down. It has been frustrating to not be able to plan properly the last several months due to what if NM question? Now that we have an answer, kid is focusing on doing a good job on apps and essays to maximize scholarship options and we are fine tuning the estimated costs(such as looking at actual room and board options rather than relying on an NPC) so we will have realistic numbers in hand by the time he makes a decision next March.</p>