I definitely hope this holds true but just wanted to share our experience with Bates regarding cost in the most recent admissions cycle. Daughter was accepted in RD, but the cost was a shocker.
NPC was way off (we didn’t have any unusual circumstances - parents not divorced, not small business owners, don’t own real estate other than our own home etc.). Actual cost at Bates was
(a) 67% more expensive than their own NPC had predicted which means it was off by the most of any NPC we have used with 2 kids in the past 3 years and
(b) our most expensive school by far (next most was Oberlin). The comparison vs. other LACs for us (Bowdoin, Carleton, Wellesley, Smith, Vassar, Pomona etc. etc.) is probably irrelevant here since for the OP it is likely only a question of whether Bates itself is affordable. But I find the NPC inaccuracy concerning.
We didn’t appeal the decision since D23 had other schools she preferred that cost a lot less, but I just wanted to share the experience since ED is under consideration here. Hopefully an appeal would be successful with the NPC that far off. I’d download/print a copy of the NPC with your inputs (make them identical to what goes on the actual financial aid application) and the results so you can appeal on this basis later if necessary. (We saved/downloaded all that info as we were running NPCs). Good luck with the admission process!