The one thing about BU, is like it or not, they have always tried to be transparent when it comes to financial aid even to the extent that they don’t guarantee to give you any, even though you may be eligible. BU even states that
As you might expect, academic excellence counts here. Whether you’re a candidate for a merit or need-based scholarship, we’ll consider your academic performance.
Unfortunately, we’re not able to offer aid to every eligible applicant. But we make every effort to extend our resources to as many students as we can. Our goal is to make it possible for you to enroll at BU.
http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/incoming/
A few years ago there was an article where BU’s financial aid director specifically spoke about financial aid at BU. Some of the things she said were:
The reason is that every college has its own approach and goals in offering money from its coffers. Aside from a relative handful of elite colleges that admit students regardless of their financial need and then award enough aid to cover it, most colleges are like Boston University, using financial aid — both need- and merit-based scholarships — to lure the best students.
**Translation: The strongest students in a pool of applicants (maybe this is your safety school) will probably get more aid than the weakest applicants (maybe this is your reach school).
“We’re saying, ‘We love you,’ ” to those offered the best packages, says Laurie A. Pohl, vice president for enrollment and student affairs.**
Bottom line, Dr. Pohl says, is that “we’re going to meet full need out of the box for our best students who have financial need.” All told, about 200 students in each incoming class receive scholarships for half the tuition, and about 100 for full tuition, whether they need it or not.
B.U. may be need-blind in admissions, but like many colleges, it is not talent-blind in financial aid. When the admissions office accepts a student, the file gets a rating before going to the financial aid office. That rating, Dr. Pohl says, is based on a holistic read of the application: factors like leadership, talent, motivation and personal character are weighed as well as grades and test scores.
They get a number that is not a calculation,” she says. “It is not a tally. It is a label. It could just as easily be colors or letters. What it tells us internally is their relative strength, how competitive they are within our pool.” With that rating and the office’s calculation of “need” — indeed a relative term — a formula is applied to reflect, as Ms. McGuire puts it, how “encouraging” the school will be to an accepted student.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/finaid-pappano-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0