There’s definitely a lot to be learned on CC. But are we not generally requested to stick to the topic? Unless the OP prompts for new options (rather than request comment on current list), couldn’t we just take her at her word?
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Generally. But also without knowing their thought process, we don’t know if they eliminated a school for some reason or if they just never considered. To that end, since the goal is to help the student, there is nothing wrong with saying “If you like X, consider Y.” Off-topic would be, “I liked the frat parties at Y when I went to college 39 years ago.”
Similarly, nothing wrong with suggesting running the NPC, although I think we can move on from suggesting it yet again. The message for the OP is that “We’ll figure it out” is not a strategy, and having the parents’ understanding of costs now will be better than later, after the OP has worked in apps and gotten accepted to an unaffordable dream school.
Regardless, best practice is not to tell users what they can and cannot post; leave that to the mods who earn the big bucks. A problematic post can be flagged to bring to our attention.
In the interest of preventing piling-ons of NPC endorsements in these types of threads, perhaps it can be a custom to say something to the effect of, “Your family needs to run the Net Price Calculator for each school you are considering to see if it is affordable for your family. If it is not affordable, and does not offer merit aid, then you are urged to remove it from your list.” And then that would be the extent of that one post and then people can like it or 
or 
to indicate their agreement and to save everyone from posting the same thing. Whoever posts that message can then create an additional message with the remainder of their thoughts.
I suspect part of the issue arises when people write more than just that one piece and people don’t necessarily feel inclined to “like” the entire post, but still want to make sure that the OP understands the importance of running the NPC and having affordable schools on their list.
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Your stats are wonderful (congrats!) and I think your list is very good. But since you are going for CS you should probably consider each school to be a little more selective that the general numbers they publish. As others commented, UMass is very competitive for CS though it may be a safety for you for another less competitive major. I am a big proponent of preparing for the worst case scenarios (have heard a lot of stories of great kids being disappointed.) why don’t you pick a very safe safety, even one with rolling decisions. Pitt or Michigan State maybe? When you are looking at very selective schools and very competitive majors, there are just a lot of people with awesome stats applying to the same schools.
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Do you think that’s the case for LACs (eg Wellesley or Mt Holyoke) and smaller universities to which applications are not submitted to a particular major (eg to Arts&Sciences at Brandeis or Tufts)?
RIat would likely give you merit, and they do have a great coop program so you can earn money along the way.
I so feel its a safety unlike others
I would tend to think no for the LACs where you are accepted regardless of major, but I don’t have specific information to back that up. Your record is awesome, so my comments about safeties are more just for peace of mind really.
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(I’m not the OP, rather the father of a daughter with a similar academic profile and list. Im just posting too prolifically here)
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I agree with others that U.Mass Amherst is not a safety. It is however very good for CS if you get accepted, and I do believe that you have a decent chance of being accepted.
If you are going to apply anywhere ED, then you need to first make sure that it will be affordable. I would be very, very cautious about taking on more than the federally subsidized amount of loans (which I think might add up to $27,000 over four years) even for Cornell and even for a CS major.
If you do not get need based financial aid, then $80,000 sitting in the bank might cover the first year at Cornell. Where would the other $240,000 come from? Cornell is a great university, but for CS it is not that much better than U.Mass that it would be worth taking on much debt.
In your situation I would be tempted to also apply to U.Mass Lowell. It will be affordable and I think that your chances of getting accepted there are very good. UNH is another possible safety that comes to mind.
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