Has anyone done a "dry run" applying for financial aid?

[Anonymous]

My son is 3 now and am interested in looking into independent schools for K. From the school's websites, it looks like all school have you apply for financial aid through a service that spits out an amount they think you can afford. So, has anyone done a "dry run" and applied for financial aid before applying to schools just to see how much money they think you can afford? Do you have the option of just having the report sent to yourself as opposed to a lot of schools? I don't want to waste my time and money next year on admission fees and testing fees as well as school visits if I have no chance of any aid.

[Anonymous]

the financial aid forms require you to list the schools you are requesting aid from. If you left that blank I'm sure they wouldn't process your form.

[Anonymous]

Not only that, if you are denied aid, there is no one at the service who will tell you why. We went around in circles and still don't know why we were denied.