<p>lgreen, I think we are on the exactly the same boat. DS is not the best student so the merit aid is a long shot. Based on DD’s experiences, we will not afford even so of those schools that meet 100% of the need. Because they use a large sum of loans to meet your need and their EFC is higher than FAFSA efc. </p>
<p>The good news for us is that we have a very good state school and DS may get some meirt $$ there.</p>
<p>Our strategy will be " aim high, very high" for great need based FA with a couple of safeties. In other words, no matching schools because we will not afford them anyway.</p>