<p>drummerdude,</p>
<p>The IM estimator at collegeboard was also good prediction of Chicago’s finaid package for my son.</p>
<p>Now would be a good time to have the money discussion with your folks - they need to come up with an estimated EFC based on 2005 income - and then decide if that is managable for your family. Some of us can manage it (with a lot of scrimping, saving and borrowing) - and other families can’t (perhaps because of a family business or high property costs). In any case, its better to have this discussion now than next year. This happens every year on cc - kid is admitted to top school, parents won’t or can’t pay - grief and misery all around.</p>
<p>If they are on the borderline of saying yea or nay to the efc - you will have a year to kind of work on them. If paying efc would put your family in a horrible situation (and that is true for many), then you need to look at merit-based schools. If you look for a poster on parents forum named curmudgeon, he has enumerated his daughter’s results with both need-based and merit schools, and it is very encouraging. </p>
<p>When discussing this with your parents, be aware what some parents consider their financial situation private from their kids. If they are touchy about this, don’t force the issue - just try to get the information of whether or not the institutional methodology EFC might be ok or not.</p>