If this were my family we would have told our child what we would contribute. Let’s say for argument $14k/yr. If after the financial aid package came in and we had to pay $33/yr our response would have been “well that school is not an option”. They would have had to have chosen a school they had applied to that was in the budget. I learned early on what EFC meant and didn’t mean. I also learned early on that what I can pay is up to me not a university or the government. Just because my child was accepted didn’t mean they were entitled to afford it.