<p>Huh? It does do exactly that! Each time you fill in a College Board NPC, you are invited to save the data . . . and if you do, it’s available the next time you need to access a College Board NPC. You might have to fill in a few extra blanks, just because the NPC’s vary slightly from one school to another, but, for the most part, all your financial data will be filled in for you.</p>
<p>The problem is that most schools do not use the College Board NPC - they have their own individual NPC’s instead! And there’s no getting around those . . . you have to take the time to fill them in. But still, once you’ve got all the data at your fingertips, even if it’s a pain in the —, it shouldn’t be too time-consuming.</p>
<p>happymomof1–I’ve found it more often than not on the admissions page, and once you think about it, it’s a fairly logical spot for it and now we know to look there first. Again, I’ve always been able to find it and I don’t think it is hidden at any school really. It’s not going to be on the home page anywhere, nor should it be.</p>
<p>dodgersmom–if your computer is set up to “auto-fill” the numbers often work on the various NPC :D.</p>
<p>There should also be caution that these are not guaranteed numbers when merit is in place and when a school does not guarantee to meet need. I’m more worried that people use these and misinterpret how to use the numbers.</p>
<p>I really think few kids have a firm understanding about family finances. Even if they do the NPCs, if the family contribution comes up to - say - $24k per year, they think, “yes, that’s doable”. But, if the family has no college savings, and household expenses are eating up most of take home pay, then there’s no way the family can “find” $2k per month to put towards college.</p>
<p>I’ve seen it here many times. Kids will say, "We don’t have savings, but I think my family can pay $12k (or whatever) per year. But, when asked if their parents can pay $1000 per month out of their current income for the next 4 years, the students often quickly retreat and say, “no,” their parents don’t have much extra money left over at the end of each month.</p>
<p>And the parents are even worse. Someone who has been unable to stick $100 a month in a kids college savings account for the last 18 years because “stuff happens” suddenly thinks they can come up with 3K per month out of current income. Why-- because nobody with a kid in college ever has to replace their muffler or furnace? Because they aren’t going to have an unexpected dental bill which isn’t covered by insurance, or their 13 year old will magically no longer need braces because eldest is a college kid?</p>
<p>I see sad situations all the time with parents biting off more they can chew out of a very unrealistic sense of their own financial wherewithal. Your own past is a better predictor of your own future, sad to say. If your income has been steadily rising over the last 18 years and you haven’t been able to save for college, the likelihood that the gods of frugality will descend on your home and magically make substantial amounts of cash appear every month is very remote.</p>
<p>Yes- you can all decide on a collective belt-tightening regimen. But everyone needs to be on-board for that to work. It can’t be one parent who thinks they’re going to forgo haircuts and dinner out and movie night while everyone else in the family is practicing business as usual. That plan results in an extra $200 per month… which is terrific, and would have actually been useful had you banked that money for the last 18 years and had the benefit of the market run-up… but not so helpful if you’re trying to meet an EFC of 20K per year which you just cannot afford.</p>
<p>I don’t blame the kids for being financially naive.</p>