I am reading lots of differing opinions on what is the best way to approach this question which could have a myriad of answers and way of answering depending on different schools. Some people say put the amount of your FAFSA EFC. Some say low ball it. Some say high ball it. What is the latest thinking about this?
What is the best practice for answering the "parental contribution toward educational costs" on CSS?
Honestly…I don’t think it matters. What you “think” you can pay has nothing to do,with the financial aid calculations.
Probably makes sense to put a number that is no higher than the lowest parent contribution shown on any of the schools’ net price calculators.
For my D1, I just put a number around 10-15% below EFC. LOL.