Could anyone comment on the accuracy of the NPC? I know that it does not consider primary home equity (purposely) but is there anything else missing that might yield inaccurate results? Thanks!
UChicago has you submit two f/a forms. FAFSA and their own internal form (you may substitute CSS for that latter one). The internal form asks about total out of pocket for educational expenses pertaining to other children (including private K-12). If that’s your situation, and the NPC doesn’t ask about it, your aid estimate might come out too low. Best to talk to F/A directly. When my D was accepted a couple years ago, I do believe that some found the NPC to be pretty accurate. It underestimated for us, but we also had other children in college at the time so perhaps that was a factor.
NPC is a DOE-mandated “courtesy” that is accessible to pretty much anyone. It’s a benchmark, but accuracy can fluctuate from family to family.
So Chicago doesn’t use the CB NPC. It does (and we have) kids in college and private school. It asked about both. Hopefully it’s accurate - fingers-crossed, especially if DD applies ED.
@MAandMEmom someone in FA once told me that they tend to be a tad ‘conservative’ with those free online tools, since it’s bad PR to have the award turn out to be LESS than NPC said. Not sure whether one can hold them to that statement but I suspect it’s true. Have no idea how much their actual award can vary from NPC, but the few who have commented in the past seemed to think that NPC was a fair predictor. In our case, when running the calculator myself, I might simply have understated the college costs for the older sibs. That could easily explain why the actual award was higher than estimated.
Again, I’d recommend contacting F/A and see what ballpark they are able to give you. We did that before signing the ED agreement and I sure felt more confident after speaking to them. They might also be able to let you know how accurate the NPC is, assuming you haven’t changed any of the numbers.
Good luck to your DD!
I called financial aid last year when we were considering ED. They told me their NPC was accurate, and it was for us (uncomplicated employment situation, no divorce, etc.)
Thank you all for these excellent responses. I think maybe if we decide to go ED I’ll reach out to their FA department. DD’s additional “challenge” is that she’s an athlete so going ED to a tough admit school without the luxury of knowing the financials is pretty scary. We are pretty uncomplicated folk as well so I guess that’s the nugget of good news.
NPC for every school we filled it out for had us at full pay (including Chicago). Fafsa confirmed we were ineligible for financial assistance (except for a loan). However, after filling out the Chicago worksheet (way less aggravating and complicated than the CSS), which as mentioned above does consider private school k-12 costs for siblings, we were actually awarded a small grant from Chicago. It was eventually taken away but replaced by a far more generous merit award. D applied ED and will be attending in the fall. Good luck!
Know that if you apply ED and the financials do not come out in your favor, you can back out of the agreement. But use your ED choice wisely as you don’t want to just throw it away on a school that you don’t stand a shot at a favorable FA package.
I am not familiar with what has been going on with financial aid in the last few years, but in the past one of the things (other than divorce) that could most screw up net price calculations in a way that was unfavorable to the student was any situation where a parent was an owner or part-owner of a private business. The working assumption seemed to be that there was lots of hidden cash flow available in the business. And that was something that the NPC programs didn’t touch; you had to submit a lot of information and the financial aid office did its own analysis.
^ This is still true. NPC (now) asks for the valuation of your business or farm interest and FA office will follow up your FA application with a request for additional financial and ownership information. Their own analysis will take a bit of time so if this situation is relevant it’s best to get their business form in hand so you know what you would need to provide, and speak to a FA officer to better understand how that information will factor into an aid calculation. While they won’t be crunching hard numbers unless you are admitted, they should be able to provide some ballpark understanding of how the NPC results are impacted.
Nope no business. We have some extras…an extra home and extra inhabitants (in-laws) but those were included when I ran the calculator. DD is an athlete and I wonder if they offer financial aid pre-reads, especially given the need to apply ED.
“NPC for every school we filled it out for had us at full pay (including Chicago).”
That’s interesting. UC was the only school that doesn’t have DD at full pay, and in fact would give her a significant award. It wasn’t on our radar at all until I read the articles recently regarding their COA hitting $80,000/yr. I was curious so I ran the calculator for kicks.
I don’t remember the NPC or FAFSA asking about private school costs for siblings. I know for sure UC’s internal FA form did, and that’s when we were given the unexpected grant. It might be worth it for you to explore the possibility of a FA pre-read.
^Ditto on the pre-read, if offered. Check with the athletic dept as well as FA.
@PepperJo - FAFSA doesn’t ask about private K-12 or college tuition for sibs, and NPC tends to mirror FAFSA. The CSS (allowed for entering) and UChicago’s own FA form (for entering and returning students) ask about those.
Groundwork2022, sounds like their standard of “full demonstrated need” might be a bit more liberal than other places.
Thanks all! It’s what a former boss of mine would say…a future yell of course. But, good to know that not all eggs are placed in one ED unaffordable basket.
I do recall that it asked about siblings’ college and private school. Our kids are literally stacked age-wise with 15, 17, and 18 with the 15 and 17 in private school and the 18 year old heading to college. My 17 and 18 yo are just 10.5 months apart.
@MAandMEMom - good luck. We don’t have 'em stacked quite that close but we did have three under age 3 and four under age 5 
This will be our third year of three in college.