<p>If a college says it meets 100% of need, does that include unsubsidized or parent loans or does that vary by college?</p>
<p>100% of your needs is based on just that. If your parents have lots of bucks, then your "needs" are less. If you have a job, then even less. So each school will use the FAFSA forms, look at what you and your parents have in terms of investments, cash, savings, jobs, income, home.....and then offer you aid based on that. The aid can then be made up of "free money", work study, loans from the school or helping you get loans from somewhere else like a bank or government.</p>
<p>And yes, it does vary a bit by college, however all will use the FAFSA and or Profile forms to determine your parents and your "net worth".</p>
<p>Remember, that if you and your parents make less than 50K per year and have little or no investments...etc, many schools will offer you "free money" or reductions in tuition. This is why you should always pick schools based on anything else but how much they cost until you know exactly how much and then you can pick the school based on the best deal for the money.</p>
<p>Thanks mixer, but I must not have phrased my question clearly. </p>
<p>I've been through this process several times. The question isn't about how EFC is determined. The question is about aid packages. If a college says it meets 100% of need, can it turn around and just give you, for example, a huge PLUS loan and say they met need (not that I've ever seen that done)? Is there an agreed-upon definition on what that means?</p>
<p>The college can meet the need however it chooses, which could include by giving you a package that's 100% loans and work study.</p>
<p>The Common Data Set phrases the question about average percentage of need met very carefully:
"On average, the percentage of need that was met of students who were awarded any need-based aid. Exclude any aid that was awarded in excess of need as well as any resources that were awarded to replace EFC (PLUS loans, unsubsidized loans and private alternative loans)"</p>
<p>To me, this suggests that when colleges say they meet 100% of need, they aren't supposed to include parent loans or unsubsidized student loans.</p>
<p>If your college doesn't publish the Common Data Set, you can find a summary of its data, including the avg. percentage of need met, in the college's profile at the College Board site (type the college name into Quickfinder and then click on the Costs and Financial Aid tab).</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. Calreader, that's exactly what I needed to know. :-)</p>