<p>“Meet full need,” “demonstrated need,” and “% receiving financial aid” are all School-jargon that sound good if you don’t look at it carefully, as so many here know and have posted before. It is not plain English, the way Joe the Electrician would use it.
This is what we gathered after two kids’college-quests and a lot of self-education on these boards and elsewhere, and what I hope everyone should know, as a starting point:
1.Loans don’t meet needs, and increase costs. Any loans. (Obviously some are better than others, but should never be called “meeting need.”)
2.Profile algorithms from private schools and even FAFSA are far from accurate and assessing need, though FAFSA is far closer to doing so.
3.Some schools make “Freshmen offers” that are good for year one only. It is stated somewhere in the fine print, not in the initial letter of award.
It’s one of the least honest games in town today, right behind politics.
No one should feel entitled to aid. But we should expect transparency, honesty and plain English from schools who later go on to teach our kids courses in Ethics.</p>