<p>Okay just answering the original question, the net price calculator is not that accurate. When we put in my family’s information it said we would get zero aid and pay full tuition. After financial aid reviewed our information following acceptances, I got over 24k in aid which made it possible for me to attend Stanford (this need-based offer even outweighed some merit scholarships at other schools). I would hate to see someone skip on applying for fear of not getting aid.</p>
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<p>Stanford caps home equity at 1.2 times family income:</p>
<p>[FAQ</a> : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/site/faq/]FAQ”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/site/faq/)</p>
<p>I don’t have the numbers with me, but I recall that actual aid was somewhat better than the estimated. We are in the upper middle class range (even though with relatively few assets because we started earning decent salaries only recently), and I consider FA package from Stanford very generous. It was about $1,000 worse than Princeton’s FA which had a lower student expectation for the first summer, which means the FAs would be even more similar for next year. We didn’t bother to negotiate. Caltech would be several thousand more expensive, and UChicago 8-10 thousand more expensive (both Caltech and UChicago included student loans). In summary, we are happy with Stanford’s FA, even though we’ll have to make sacrifices. We got an equity line of credit approved just in case: the interest is much better than any other loans.</p>
<p>Futureinfinance, we do have some assets, including a house which we bought 2 years ago (so not a ton of equity but a reasonable amount given that we put 20% down). We also have decent retirement accounts and rainy day savings as well as 529 college savings accounts for both kids. And, like your family, we don’t live beyond our means. My understanding is that Stanford uses a sliding scale to determine the amount a family who makes between $100K and $200K pays for tuition, with a family making $100K paying no tuition and a family making $200K and over paying full price. I don’t understand the 25% of income number you quoted. That would mean a family making $100K would have to pay $25K, which is quite a bit more than room and board plus other expenses for the year.</p>