<p>Meeting 100% need simply means that the college will provide a level of financial awards that will meet estimated total annual costs (tuition, room & board etc.) minus an amount that your parents will be expected to contribute. It is the amount that your parents are expected to contribute that is often a shock to the parents, particularly for many middle class to upper middle class families, and often it is an amount that the parents conclude they cannot possibly afford if they want to continue enjoying such obvious luxuries as eating, heating the house, having a 10 year car, and having clothes on their back. Moreover, the type of awards given vary. If all the awards were grants that you need not repay, they would be ideal, but too often a very large portion is loans that will result in your accumulating an enormous amount of debt if you actually decide to attend such a high cost college. It is a result of those factors that ED colleges generally allow the applicant to opt out if the financial aid package offered is unacceptable to the parents</p>