I understand that Columbia’s financial aid is much more generous than NYU but I’ve not seen it mentioned with HPY level aid. The NPC for Columbia (and Penn) had us paying substantially more than Harvard’s and Princeton’s NPC (50-75% more). D didn’t apply to Penn or Columbia because they weren’t affordable. Harvard’s actual aid package was within a $1,000 of the NPC.
We do not have any home equity because I move too often for my job. We are a pretty straight forward situation, dual income married parents so no issues to cause problems with NPC.