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<p>I’ve run a number of hypothetical scenarios, across a wide range of income/asset combinations, and have yet to come across a spread that is that large for the subsets of those schools I’ve considered so far. I’m not saying it can’t happen. Some schools treat non-custodial parents, business income/equity, etc. very differently. So you do need to run the NPC estimates for your own numbers and prospective schools.</p>
<p>What I’ve found is that there may be a spead of about ~$5K - $10K for a typical subset of 3-5 “full need” schools. Nevertheless, at both ends of the spread they often are still competitive with the best alternatives for incomes up to ~$120K - $~180K (depending on school). Typically, for the numbers I’ve tested, at least one “full need” school winds up with the lowest net costs. Super selective schools do tend to be among the lowest, but other “full need” schools often are not too far behind. </p>
<p>YMMV. </p>