To expand a bit:
Full need CSS schools is what I am asking about.
I’m very aware this stuff changes fairly frequently and it’s not a static list or a guarantee, I’m just trying to get a feel of where things stand today, and how many/what type of schools we are talking about.
This isn’t something goofy I’m contemplating to game the system and set myself up for financial aid. Right now S19 and D21 get decent need based aid, and I will check their schools (although I guess S19 doesn’t matter anymore). It’s something I am contemplating doing that would potentially really hurt me. That’s what I am trying to avoid. I don’t want to save a few thousand dollars today to pay it back tenfold once D25 starts school.
She may well end up at a merit aid school, or one where we are mostly paying full freight anyway. It’s a bit early to say. Right now she is on track with where her older siblings were as far as having a good shot at a full needs met school, but who knows what the next 2 years brings, both in her odds for admission and even desire for that type of a school.
Mostly I don’t want to be in the situation that she wants to apply to Smith (or whereever) in 2 years, and I have to tell her we can’t afford it because I did some balance sheet changes a couple years ago.
Also to answer the next comment, I’m very aware that “needs met” means a lot of different things. I have a massive spreadsheet I did for D21. I just don’t want to have to recreate that right now, knowing that I will need to update it yet again in a couple years when it is actually getting closer to the time to apply.