<p>The loan stats mean something, but not the way you are interpreting them. </p>
<p>They are a way to get a sense in comparing one school to another of how much of the need-based aid is weighted toward loans as opposed to grants. They don’t tell you what kind of aid you will get – but if you know that you will definitely qualify for need based aid, they give you some indication as tho how the aid package will likely be structured. </p>
<p>Looking at the stats for Ivies is a waste of time because those schools are very proud of their no-loan policies and very forthcoming about what they offer.</p>
<p>But it is helpful when you are comparing other schools. For example, where are you likely to get a better aid package, Univ. of Chicago, or Vanderbilt? </p>
<p>Well we can see that the average debt at graduation for Chicago is $24,238, Vandy $19,563 – so that tells us that Chicago is likely to put more loans, less grants in the package. </p>
<p>This is particularly important when you keep in mind that the maximum available for subsidized Staffords over 4 years is $19,000 – since the only debt being reported on the common data set is student debt, then anything above $19K tell you that the school is packaging aid in such a way that includes debt above and beyond the max. for subsidized Stafford. For some students that may include Perkins loans (subsidized), or unsubsidized staffords.</p>