A lot of schools promise to meet full need.
But what does it mean?
Does it mean that half of the money of cost - EFC will be loans?? or 3,000 in loans? Basically, how much of the money they give you will be actually loans which you could get from private lenders anyways?
It depends on the college and how much they want you. Look at the financial aid web pages of the colleges that you're considering. Typically, they provide a breakdown of the average aid package. Also e-mail financial aid officers and they also can give you info.
I think that the US News Ultimate guide -- which is perhaps the best college guide since it breaks down info like this -- also is worth buying to get the info. It's also worth paying $15 to be able to use their web site, which also provides the info you want as well as very helpful spreadsheets allowing you to compare colleges.
It's def easier to meet full need through loans. But some schools will pay for your complete tuition through merit/need-based scholarships.
If you have too many loans, i recommend going somewhere else. Bc when you graduate it may be difficult to pay them off.
This really does vary widely. When my older son applied to college, we found that his offers varied from all tuition paid in grants and only small loans needed to minimal grants and huge loans. (We took the first offer, which also happened to be from the best college he applied to--and his first choice.) Private universities tend to offer more grant money than public ones (although being a state resident helps with the public ones), but you can't really know for sure what you will get until the offers roll in.
