<p>Sybbie, thanks for taking the time to type all that out, but Im way ahead of you! I guess thats why I am where I am Ive crunched the numbers every which way and there is a huge disparity again, doable vs. dont bother applying. My son is very aware of how much we can contribute, how much he can take out in loans, and the need to apply to schools that have a strong possibility of coming in with an out-of-pocket cost under the total of the two. Figuring out if there are need-only schools that would meet that criteria is the difficult task. Like I said before, after reading CC for a year, I thought there werent any. The instructions on these calculators have given me hope for my son probably false hope! </p>
<p>Id really like to hear from 2012ers about their actual experience with the npc vs. actual aid offers. From recent comments, it sounds like the full need school calculators have been pretty reliable, but I dont see any information specific to blended families. Perhaps it would only be anecdotal due to all the variables . . . but in our case, next year (if accepted) I think it would be very clear whose income was considered. Trying to get this information out there for others like srystress and me.</p>