<p>The Cost of Attendance (COA) is tuition, room & board, other fees, books, etc. There is a process where a college will determine how much you and your family can be expected to contribute; the higher your income and assets, the higher your expected contribution.</p>
<p>The difference between the COA and your expected contribution is your “need.” You and your family don’t get to define the amount of need. Like binks09 said, your need will be determined by the information you provide on your income and assets, based on tax returns, and various other forms and documents. Private colleges will have their own policies on how they treat families’ financial circumstances and how they allocate financial aid.</p>
<p>Some schools meet 100% of calculated need, but most do not promise that. Even among those that do promise to meet 100% of need, many meet that need by packaging student and parent loans in the financial aid award. Some are very loan-heavy, and that really isn’t financial aid exactly, it’s just postponing when you have to pay up, and then with interest to boot.</p>
<p>Princeton does not package loans, so all of their aid is in the form of grants and work-study. There are a few schools that don’t package loans, but they tend to be the very hardest schools in the country to get into.</p>