OP, thanks for sharing. We found the exact same thing: NPC said a discount of $22,000 at a top-20 private, actual results were $0.
I think it’s not only the current-period contributions to a tax-deferred retirement account, but also the current value of those assets as reported in the CSS PROFILE. The question is how much of those tax-deferred assets are being considered? It’s anyone’s guess. We know that 5% of parental taxable financial assets are included in the FAFSA EFC, but individual schools probably have their own algorithms for how to address tax-deferred assets. It probably has something to do with how old you are, and how much you have.
I suppose this makes sense at some level because it is a parental asset, but the tax/penalty hit of plundering one’s retirement account is extraordinary. It’s really hard to understand why colleges would factor this in as a usable asset.