Reply to I’ve been honest with my daughter about what we can afford but….

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]she says she wants to at least SEE if she can get in to these places like Princeton and Pomona. I have no idea why. What is the point? [/quote]

Let he know what you can pay, run the NPC to see the estimate, then let her take her shot. This is her one chance to apply to college, and there's no good reason to keep her from seeing what happens. There's a good chance she won't get in, but then the school has squelched her dreams, not you. If she gets in, there's a small chance that the financial package is better than you feared. But even if she gets in and you can't afford it, she can take pride in being "good enough" for the school, even if it's too expensive to attend.

That said, I'd also make sure she has a robust list of schools of varying costs and selectivity, and including some strong schools known for merit aid. Bonus: some of those have early action, so she can get a response before the rest of her applications are due. It's great to know that college is a sure bet, especially one that is affordable, well before the rest of the schools release their decisions.[/quote]

If finances are a concern, your kid needs a great list of true safeties and all those safeties should be Affordable without any aid and/or schools that give a ton of merit typically. And most importantly these affordable school need to be somewhere your kid would be thrilled to attend.   I'd recommend that at least 2 of your 3-4 target schools also includes Affordable to you schools.  
It's fine to let your kid apply to reach schools and those you might not be able to afford, but be 100% certain they understand that you cannot afford those schools unless you get a great merit package.  Then your kid can decide if all the work to apply to an elite school is worth it if there's only a 7-8% chance of admission and then a 4-5% chance of it being affordable.  My kid would do the math on that and pick schools where they could get the merit we needed (in that situation). 
What you want to avoid is having your kid [/quote]

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