I could be wrong, but I’m not reading anything from the USNews article that directly says that a first time freshman has a FA package very different from a transfer. What I’m reading is that they may differ from your original school because different schools calculate their own “need” based on FAFSA and CSS which I’m already expecting.
If we had an applicant X apply to school Y during their senior year of HS, would the aid not be similar to the aid they would get if they transferred into the school, providing nothing about them changed?
Again, feel free to correct me on this, there’s a good chance that I AM wrong now that I think about it.