I found the NPCs to have varying degrees of accuracy. The schools that have their merit aid formula programmed into their NPC are the easiest to deal with because you can pretty much count on what they say. I have a lot of respect for that. I can say from experience that there is plenty of merit aid available for smart, high performing kids that are not qualified for any need based aid. Unfortunately, you may not want to attend any of the schools the will provide you with merit aid and the schools you really want to attend are likely not to provide merit aid. If you can get need based aid, so much the better.