<p>You guys sound like you know alot about the way ED and fin. aid works and it has been a big topic at our house. We will have an EFC of anywhere from 12k (Dartmouth calculator) to 18k (finaid.org calculator for same price) and must have need-based aid in order to attend. My son is interested in Emory, Pomona, CMC, Williams, Davidson and Whitman. We are trying to decide if it is an intelligent decision to apply ED somewhere if they say they meet 100% of need. Couldn't they just give you a bunch of loans? What info. do we use to make this decision? (we don't have big home equity so that isn't an issue)</p>