In the case of Hampshire, the problem is that they do not have that much money and are “need blind”. As a result you get gapped. I’ve never known a student who did not have a gap of at least $5k after loans etc. I think Hampshire would love to give more financial aid but they just don’t have the money.
Another word of advice if you have high need: their transportation budget is very tight. So when we added in a more realistic figure for this, the gap grew. We looked for a university that met 100% need.