<p>I'm a little fuzzy on how all of this works, but, say my dream school claims to meet, on average, 76% of it's students financial need. does this mean that I can reasonably expect to pay approx. .24(Total-EFC) + EFC per year if I go to this school? And the "need met" is taken care of, and I never have to pay that back or anything?</p>
<p>No, what it means is that your financial aid package could cover anywhere from 100% to 0% of your cost of attendance. The average - for all students receiving aid - is 76%, so some students will get more than that and some will get less . . . quite possibly significantly less!</p>
<p>Also, the package will include federal loans that will have to be paid back.</p>
<p>If you want a guarantee, then you need to look at schools that claim to meet 100% of need with no loans . . . but, even then, the school’s definition of what you need and your definition of what you need may not be the same!</p>
<p>Also, please be aware that many private colleges often “pad” their stats by including only students that actually enroll in their public data. So, the 76% figure may not reflect all the applicants that were not able to enroll because of inadequate financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Example of how this data manipulation would work at a school that had a cost of attendance of $50,000.</p>
<p>Student 1: Financial Need = $50,000 Total aid, including loans and work study = $40,000. This student enrolls.</p>
<p>Student 2: Financial Need = $50,000. Total aid, including loans and work study = $11,050. THis student does not enroll.</p>
<p>IN this example, the school only really met about 51% of these applicants’ cumulative need, but, since Student #2 never enrolled, this student is excluded from the data and the school can then boast that they meet 80% of need since this is the % of need met for Student 1. Data can lie.</p>
<p>The above is correct.</p>
<p>Also, be aware that to meet need (or attempt to meet need), most schools do include loans and work-study in their FA pkgs. So, even if a school gave you $15k in aid, a good portion of that aid would be loans and work study…not free money.</p>