I completely understand what you are saying, and I know that the number means how much of the need is met. I’m using this quote “the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $23,099”.
So if the school costed 28 grand as listed on US-News and the average aid is 23 grand, and the school meets nearly 100% of it, that would imply that the average need is 23 grand. Then, that would imply that the average EFC is roughly 5 grand (or roughly 10 grand if the school costs 33k). So, they would need 23 more grand which is what the school is giving them or at least 97% of it, I just find it super hard to believe that in the city of California, where everything costs more, that the average EFC is this low. Seems like the EFC is anywhere between 1/6 - 1/3 of the income, so that would imply that the majority of people who applied for need are only making 15-30k. Which is a very possible and legitimate number for people wanting aid for this school, but I can’t believe that this is the average. I would think the people with 15-25k in EFC would deeply lower this average down. It would seem to only make sense if they gave this much to OOS, but we all know they don’t so its very confusing.