<p>First, the Duke net price calculator is based on assumptions specific to Duke. If not the federal government wouldn’t have mandated a net price calculator by school. Second, Duke uses total income not AGI. The difference being a number of those adjustments to income items get added back. For my family that includes contributions to a 401k and it has a big impact. Third, Duke does tie loans in your financial aid package to total income from $0 for incomes under $40,000 to a maximum of $5,000 for incomes over $85,000. They do not put loans above this amount in your financial aid package. If you qualify you can indeed get Perkins, Stafford, or outside loans up to your calculated need. The statement that the only way you won’t get the max amount of loans is if your total need is less than the max loan amount is correct. The statement that the official policy is to load the FA with as much loans as they are legally permitted to give you is false.</p>