It might be a bad criteria- but would be helpful in bucketing things for me.
If a merit granting schools NPC spits out 30k in merit, I might be more likely to have my kid apply to it over a school that shows no merit aid because it is not part of the NPC.
Maybe not an eliminating factor per se, but another data point.
It’s nuts that you need to go through the process of applying and getting an acceptance before you even know what a school will cost you. I can’t think of another financial decision of this size where price is so murky and at the end of the purchasing process. But that is a topic for another post.
If anyone can recommend privates in the northeast, CA and FL that have reputable engineering programs and a NPC that largely lined up with what was offered to you post acceptance, it would be great.