Did you get the “New York State shopping list“? I found that really helpful for seeing how they calculated costs. It wasn’t in the financial award letter, it is a second document on the portal. I’ll see if I can find the screenshot I had of ours, but what I remember is that they only reached what they calculated as our family contribution by including the student loan. Also, what they calculated as our family contribution was a little bit higher than what it had been when I ran the NPC in the fall.
I don’t think numbers will change after the FAFSA data goes through. RPI uses the CSS, which has all the information from the FAFSA and more.
ETA: Here is a thread where I post the screenshot and talk about the New York State shopping list:
According to the CSS methodology, our family contribution should be around $42,000. Without the loan our family contribution is about $47,500. With the unsubsidized federal loan, we just about meet the $42,000. When I ran the NPC, it said we would pay $39,000. So the difference between the NPC and our cost without the loan is about $8000, similar to what you mentioned for yourself.
ETA2: The exact numbers are a little funny because I usually only look at tuition plus room plus board. The shopping list document uses total cost of attendance which is several thousand dollars higher. So, although the shopping list documents says our cost of attendance is $47,500, I consider it more like $43,000 because I don’t include the extra expenses like travel, books, living, expenses, etc. that the document includes in the COA.