Why do people rely in indirect information when direct information is available?

[ucbalumnus]

<p>Even if the NPC is not that accurate for a given situation, how is it less accurate than general assumptions based on average amounts of financial aid given (especially when there is no way of knowing if the student’s family is “average” in terms of financial aid)?</p>

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@intparent

I suspect the triggering event that got ucb to start this thread was a poster elsewhere who was very concerned about cost and was adding/dropping colleges from their list based on USNWR aid rankings, but did not seem to have tried the NPCs for those colleges. At least he started this thread a few minutes after he and I both posted to that person that they should use the NPCs.

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<p>Yes.</p>