<p>college help: In our specific situation, the excellent in-state flagship COA for engineering was $28,866. Our state school does not give many or substantial merit scholarships. Our S got no FA and $1K per year in merit aid, which would take the COA down to $27,866. The COA for Stanford was $52,390. That’s $98K more over 4 years for Stanford. And our state school is a very expensive one. </p>
<p>However, we received FA from Stanford under their new enhancements, so the cost will actually be a bit smaller than the state school. So I think that the differences are either (1) lots bigger than your estimate if your family DOESN’T get FA or (2) lots smaller if your child attends a top school with new FA enhancements and your family DOES get FA.</p>