Anyone with experience with the calculated NPC for the following schools vs what was actually offered care to comment on whether it was close or way off? For example if the calculated NPC was $25k but when the financial offer came in it was more like $35k that to me would be way off. Please share your experiences with any of these schools: Clark University (Mass), Trinity College (CT), Skidmore, Connecticut College, College of the Holy Cross, Wesleyan University, Providence College and Wheaton College (Mass).
Are you self employed or a small business owner
Do you have any real estate/property other than your primary residence
Are you a married couple living together or are you a divorced/blended family
you you have monies that you may have earmarked for retirement, but are not in a retirement account
if you contribute monies before taxes did you add it back into you income
Do you have a lot of equity in your home
Each school decides for themselves how they are going to use your information in order to distribute their money.
One of the biggest factors could be how the school handles the equity in your home; some schools may use it as a multiplier for your income, while other schools may feel that this is a source of funding for college.
I know that when my kid applied to college she applied to all 100% demonstrated need schools. There was a big range in our financial aid packages, ranging from packages with loan to no loan packages, sone had work study, while others did not.
Of the schools you have listed, they all have different ranges to the extent that they met demonstrated need. Clark, Wheaton, Holy Cross and Providence do not meet 100% demonstrated need.
The best you can do is wait until the packages come in, if there is a big range between 2 peer schools (especially if they meet 100% demonstrated need) and are your kid’s top choice(s) you can ask for a financial review
Holy Cross does in fact meet 100% demonstrated need. https://www.holycross.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid
Thank you for your responses. My question was due to the fact that DS applied ED to one school. The NPC was within the range of what we could cover but I am wondering if the FA package will come in close to it or not.
Really depends on the school and whether the information you entered into the NPC was correct or if you have a lot of the items listed in #1 (self employed, second home, divorced parents…)
My kids’ awards were exactly as the NPCs indicated they would be, but for the first year neither got need based aid and our financial information was very straight forward.
It is more related to how complicate your family and financial situation than individual schools. Self employed and devorced parents are the common factors that lead to deviations fro the NPC.