Let’s say that in order to afford a college, I would need to receive 5K more a year in financial aid than the net price calculator says I would receive. Do I still spend time touring and applying to that college? What if there is a 10K a year difference between what the net price calculator says and what I would need? And so on. What should be the cutoff at which I cross off a college from my list for being too expensive?
What schools?
Mostly private universities, because I’m assuming that OOS publics would not give me any financial aid.
UNC-Chapel Hill and UVA meet full need of admitted students.
You are asking a good question. Assuming straight-forward finances (parents married, own one home, do not own their own business), we personally set the cut-off at about 10K. When FA offers came in, they did vary a fair amount - some schools were 5K-10K over what we expected, some were 5K-10K under.
it all depends on the NPC? Some are very thorough in terms of questions. They ask about real estate equity other than primary home. They ask if your parents are divorced, or own a business. They askmfor stats, and merit aid is included too.
Some NPCs are very lean in the question department.
And policies change from year to year. The NPCs right now are set up,for,students enrolling fall 2017. If your student isn’t starting then…you will need to update NPCs for,the schools fall of your kid’s senior year in HS.