Net Price Calculator vs. Actual Fin Aid Package

<p>Current/accepted Reedies, how did your financial aid package from the school match up with what Reed's online net price calculator predicted?
I ask because while everything I've heard seems to imply that Reed offers excellent financial aid for its students, when I plugged in my family's numbers in their NPC, it claimed a (pre-loan) contribution of about 37k/year, far more than my family could hope to pay. I would be less surprised if this hadn't turned out to be a number 7-15k higher than almost every other school I looked at, places that, according to what I've read on here and gleaned from average student debt numbers, have financial aid on par or worse than Reed's.
Is the calculator in error, or does Reed in fact have such weak financial aid? For reference, my family makes about 120k/year, with fairly large savings. I have a younger sibling, but would be the only child in college for a couple of years.
I'm a current junior, and Reed is my far away first choice. If only I could afford it...(or get in, haha)</p>

<p>I didn’t try the net price calculator, but for our family, with about that level of income (but only one child) they offered no financial aid at all except loans.</p>

<p>The family contribution is expected to be a combination of past income (savings), current income and future income (loans, e.g., home equity). It is expected to entail significant sacrifice. Reed’s endowment is not big enough to support need-blind admissions, but they manage to give financial aid to about half, with an average package of about $36,000. Some other schools clearly have more money to distribute.</p>

<p>CASrMom: I’m very sorry to hear about the situation for your family.
And now this is making me even more worried about what next year’s fin aid prospects may hold…</p>

<p>vonlost: I do understand that significant (and perhaps unmeetable) sacrifice will be likely when it comes to finances at most schools, and certainly at Reed. Certainly, budget-tightening has not been kind to anyone, colleges included, and there are plenty of people more needing of aid than myself. I guess I was just a bit surprised when comparing Reed’s incredibly low average debt to the predicted aid package, hoping it to be a glitch in the calculator. Unfortunately, it appears that the actual situation may turn out to be at least as unappealing.</p>

<p>Thank you both for you help!</p>