Run the Collegeboard’s EFC too to see how the school’s numbers compare, e.g. to see if the school will be generous or not.
@brownparent I’ve run about 40-50 NPC’s now. Each one seems to run on one of about a half-dozen different platforms. The two that appear to be the most common and comprehensive.are the College Board platform and its member schools, and the Cegment platform (see list of “Our Clients” at the Cegment Web site).
I trust the output from those more than I trust the output from some of the “lite” ones than have been referred to here. And even for CB and Cegment schools, a college might put in a “generic” average range of scholarship /grant aid and invite you to let them generate and send you an estimate package.
We did the latter with DePaul in preparation for an upcoming visit. Their NPC gave a generic 6-11K range for grant/gift aid based on their institutional average. Then a packet showed up in the mail with a grant/gift aid estimate for her individual case that was 2-3 times as much.