If a college says their average financial aid package is 25,000 does that include the loans you pay back to the college?
You’re not paying loans back to the college. The only loan you can get is the ~$5500/year federal loan you get from filling out the FAFSA, and you’d be paying whatever company holds the loan.
I think a lot of schools include the loans in their packages. My son had several that calculated net price after applying the loan, so the real net was $5k higher than the figure they listed. The best way to get an idea how much a school might cost you is to run their Net Price Calculator.
Yes, it may include loans. It may also include work-study.
Yes that usually means that loans and work study is included.
However, that average means nothing to you. You may have little need. If so, you’d get very little.
And, that figure only includes the students who chose to enroll. It doesn’t include those who got lousy aid.