Average percent of need met?

calmom
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 01:57:44 +0000

so one of the schools I’m looking at on college board, states that 87% of financial aid was met. . So does that mean if tuition and fees all add up to 30k. Will they give me 87% of 30k?

No, absolutely not.

It’s an average. Some students get 100%, some get 0% – some get something in between.

Keep in mind that if a student only has $10K of need – and the school gives that student $10K in loans and work study – that student counts as having 100% of need met.

So it could be that a school regularly meets need of higher income applicants (with low levels of needs), and gives very little to lower income applicants. The numbers as to percentage of need met applies to enrolled students - not the students who applied, were admitted, but turned down their spots because they didn’t get enough financial aid.

So that figure tells you one thing and one thing only: that school does NOT guarantee to meet your need. The school is very likely to leverage their aid – they will offer more money to the students at the top of their applicant pool, less to those at the bottom – but they might also choose to prioritize aid to students whose “need” is less.

Looking at average student debt figures will give you a little more insight, but keep in mind that those figures include only direct loans to the student – not private outside loans or any debt taken on by parents