<if the="" point="" of="" this="" exercise="" is="" to="" maximize="" need-based="" financial="" aid,="" i="" would="" focus="" less="" on="" whether="" a="" school="" need="" blind="" or="" aware="" and="" more="" it="" guarantees="" meet="" full="" need.="">
There are certainly situations where a need-aware school with a lot of applicants will decide against the student needing financial aid.
Also, meeting full need can mean different things to different universities. And, it isn’t just in the funding side of the equation where you see the discrepancies; for some universities, meeting full need might mean not including things like flights to campus, or books in the expenses side.