@JBStillFlying describes well how need blind schools use ‘proxies’ to help determine financial need, I expect AOs are very facile at incorporating this information.
I would also expect Chicago’s predictive analytics admissions model has at least one financial need variable that serves to further refine the net revenue estimates of the potential class.
@Zoom10 - schools like Chicago do tend to use net revenue targets, defined as gross revenue less financial aid (both need and merit based). Hitting the net revenue target is important, there’s not necessarily a concept of an FA budget.