<p>@Hammurabi,
I just want to expound upon something that the others have said, but that may not have jumped out at you. Many, many families find that the EFC they come up with on the FAFSA is way out of their league. If a student’s family has an EFC of $36k, let’s say, that means that a college will expect that the family can afford to pay $36k for that one year of college. In actuality, that family may feel that they can afford maybe $10k a year, or even $5k, or whatever. It doesn’t take a whole heck of a lot of income to end up with a $36k EFC. There are lots and lots of people who post on CC that are shocked at their EFC, because in reality they couldn’t begin to afford that much. And yet, that figure, from the FAFSA and/or CSS Profile, is what many/most colleges will use to determine how much you can supposedly afford, and how much financial aid they might award.</p>
<p>For example, if JHU costs $50k a year, and IF they say they guarantee that they’ll meet 100% of your need (I don’t recall whether JHU is one of those schools that says that, but let’s just say they are), and if your EFC is $36k, then JHU would say that you have a need of $14k a year. IF they guarantee 100% of your need, then you would be offered $14k in some combination of work study, scholarships, grants, etc. And you would be expected to pay $36k a year.</p>
<p>Another way that people “afford” a $50k/year school is through merit scholarships. If your stats are great, you may get some pretty hefty scholarships – which is “free” money that you won’t have to pay back. Lots of private schools offer pretty good merit scholarships that tend to bring the cost down closer to public school prices if your stats warrant such an award.</p>
<p>And, at some schools, like at least a few of the ivies and Stanford, the student is required to pay a certain amount towards their own education in the form of small-ish loans (like, say, $4500/year), and then they allow all kids from families below a certain income ($60k at Stanford), to attend for only the cost of the student loans ($4500 a year). At Stanford, when a family makes between $60k and $100k, kids pay another small-ish portion on top of the $4500/year student loans. So, that’s another way that schools can be more affordable than their published price tag.</p>
<p>If your family has a pretty good income and your stats are not good enough to warrant merit aid, then you can expect your cost of attendance to be closer to the advertised sticker price.</p>
<p>It’s great that you’re looking at this now. There are plenty of people who find that cost is a deciding factor when choosing a school. You’re not alone! In my family cost is definitely a deciding factor!</p>