S24 finally got his financial aid package from RPI. (It was good!) This is the first private school he has gotten into. Does anyone know if the “NYS Shopping List” form is something NYS requires private or all schools to publish? I love it and wish all schools did.
(I know this is a terrible picture—took it using my phone of what was in my son’s computer screen, sorry)
In particular I like how it shows what (they calculate) our expected contribution should be according to FAFSA & CSS methodology.
A couple of interesting notes—
(1) The SAI S24 got in his email after filling out the new form was ~$40K, much lower than I thought it would be (EFC was ~$72K for S23 last year). When I tried to calculate our SAI by hand using the form someone has posted I got something in the $70-80K range. RPI got still a third number for our FAFSA based expected contribution. (I know the SAI is not expected contribution, but basically it sort of is.)
(2) Our CSS EFC here is a little higher than I got when I ran NPCs for most schools in the fall, but not that much higher. It is also significantly lower than our FAFSA calculated number. I assume that is because we have 2 kids in college and the CSS methodology still takes that into account.
(3) I wonder if this says anything about what the other private colleges he applied to that use the CSS will expect us to pay? I didn’t think RPI was a meets need school, but maybe it is. I don’t think any of the other privates he has applied to are meets need, so it might not matter at all.