@Skippy00 I am self employed and I can relate to your situation. For my S (he is a SR.) we looked at schools (mostly in the midwest) that meet 90-95% of need, and S has a couple of good options we can afford. My D, a Jr. will be taking a crack at a few of the 100% need met schools that looks like she has a shot getting in, with a higher acceptance rate than the more famous 100% need met schools, with the 90-95% schools as a match. The NPC was the most important tool in building the college list. Yes, its hard for my kids because they have plenty of friends with a much larger budget for college, but I think living lean is a good skill to develop before going to college. There’s 2 ways to crack the nut - need based aid, and merit based aid. If you have a low EFC on the FAFSA, need based schools are good, otherwise merit based where your kid rocks the stats is another approach.