<p>His PSAT score made him a semifinalist, right? Then becoming a finalist should be easy. Pretty much any semifinalist who lists a school who sponsors becomes NMF.</p>
<p>^ Except for the 1000 students who don’t finish the paperwork (make sure you send a confirmation SAT score to CB) or have issues in their file (behavioral or academic).</p>
<p>I can’t agree with the “X school is safe” and “Y school is not safe” posts, based on my personal experience. Best bet is to either cross a college off because of your direct knowledge, or go there and see.</p>
<p>RPI has significant grants available, but I don’t think they give many full rides. It is worth a try to type his stats in and see.</p>
<p>We have found that the major difference with an EFC of $30,000 per year for my son is that some schools will be giving loans only for the rest, and some give full grants for the rest. Big difference - if I take out a loan for four years totally $120,000, I’m not going to co-sign for another $120,000 that he owes.</p>
<p>"""“Big difference - if I take out a loan for four years totally $120,000, “””""</p>
<p>frankly, if a parent has to borrow all of the efc, the school is likely not affordable. if a parent cant contribute anything towards college, what is magically going to happen in four years when 1200+ per month payments come due…for a very long time.</p>
<p>I can’t take any loans, and wouldn’t let my kids take more than $25-$30k total.</p>
<p>But his PSAT was 227 so he should be NMF, right? They say average for NJ is 224 and packets will come out in September.</p>
<p>It would be unusual for the scores to swing that much in one year.</p>
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<p>cut off, not average, is likely 224. 224 is the highest cut off ever in any state. he will almost 100% make NMSF…make sure everything else is done, including taking/sending sat score.</p>