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<p>Please reread my post, the school was not S. The point of my post was to demonstrate to californiaaa that COA and net price can be two very different things.</p>
<p>Yes, no brainer for a parent, for the kid, not so much…;).</p>
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<p>It is not a matter of being wrong. For starters, financial aid is essentially an individual affair that transcends many general statistics. The financial affairs of many applicants are complicated. What appear on the surface might very different when the EFC, FAFSA, and especially the CSS numbers come out. And the ability and desire of rich schools to admit students with almost full financial aid varies tremendously. This is what explains that some incredibly endowed schools can offer a net cost below their public peers or quasi peers. </p>
<p>Data10 provided a link to a very old thread about Stanford vs Berkeley. I invite you to read and pay close attention to the spirited defense of Cal by a poster named KyleDavid. He really loved Cal (Berkeley) and spent months defending (often brilliantly) what appeared to be his first choice. Being academically well-prepared, he qualified for all potential merit aid offered in California. Not surprisingly, he was admitted at both Stanford and Cal. Considering my --obvious-- bias in this story, I let you guess where he landed, after realizing that attending Cal would require a much larger financial effort.</p>
<p>In a way, that story repeats itself year after year. This one was particularly spectacular as the poster was such a strong and eloquent supporter of Cal. And I do not believe he came to regret his final choice!</p>