TPol

Well the only reason why I'm assuming is that the average coverage of financial need by WUSTL is 100%, so every student gets 100% of his or her need covered by WUSTL.

CollegeBoard.com says that 80% of that is in grants on average, so I'm arriving at my conclusion purely by examining the numbers and what my projected financial aid package would be based on the average.

With an EFC of 3500, even if I were to receive $10,000 of my financial aid package in loans, I would still be paying less than what I will be for RIT ($17,000) due to the fact that their resources aren't equal to those of WUSTL.

Even if I were to be paying several thousand dollars more per year, it may ultimately prove to be worth the extra money if it helps me get a significantly better job after I graduate that pays better. That is unless, I end up absolutely loving RIT, which I may, but that's a decision I'll have to make when the time comes, for now, I'm just curious as to what my options would be if I did well at RIT for my first year.