Not every college can meet your student’s need.
In fact, only 70 out of the 460+ colleges on the list below meet 100% of need or aid eligibility.
Why do colleges gap financial aid?
There are two key reasons why a college’s financial aid offer may not match or equal your student’s aid eligibility.
Most colleges don’t have enough resources.
Most colleges provide an award that is only a percentage of the student’s eligibility, resulting in a gap in the financial aid offer.
The DATA: Colleges publish the percentage of need or eligibility they meet on average, which can be found in the data below in the column % of Need Met.
If a student were eligible for $30,000 in need-based financial aid at both Babson and Emerson, the student would expect to receive nearly $30,000 from Babson (at 96%), but only about $15,000 from Emerson (at 56%).
Public universities only fund their resident students.
Public universities only award institutional need-based financial aid to their in-state, resident students. Out-of-state students admitted should expect to receive no institutional need-based aid, resulting in a huge aid gap.
THE DATA: You should assume 0 % of Need Met, except for federal aid options. The numbers reported for public universities below reflect the percentage of need met for their in-state, resident students
A student from Maryland admitted to U Mass Amherst would not have 88% of their need met. They would pay full Out-of-state Cost at nearly $60,000, except for any merit scholarships or federal aid.
College Data from the 2024-25 Common Data Set
Use this online database to explore colleges’ generosity with need-based financial aid.
Tips:
- FILTER: When using the Filter for Region or State column, choose the is any of option to select multiple Regions or States.
- INFO ICON: The info icon next to the column name provides a more detailed description of the data presented.
- DOWNLOAD: To download a copy, click on the 3 dots and select Export to CSV. It will save the file with any changes you’ve made. Note: I don’t recommend downloading to Excel, because it will convert the number fields, like percents and dollars, to text fields.