<aside> 📖 American colleges are the wealthiest in the world, some with multibillion-dollar endowments. A few hundred can financially support qualified candidates. I’m walking out of uni without paying a dime & debt-free.
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Financial Aid is given to help you meet the cost of attending the uni. Scholarships are given because they think like you more than the avg. admitted student, and/or feel you align with the values of the Scholarship - they want you on their campus so they remove the financial barrier by giving you a full ride.
How much you get in $ depends on the policy of the university. Generally, you will be asked to pay as much as your family is able to. Basically, if you are well-off you should expect to pay a lot, if you come from a lower socio-economic background expect to pay less. This is what Columbia said:
"For students coming from families with total incomes of less than $60,000 annually, parents are not expected to contribute to the cost of attendance."
If your parents earn a combined total salary of less than $60K a year, you go to Columbia for free. The COA for 4 years is ~$376,000.
What does "Need-Based mean?
Need-based scholarships are dependent on your family's ability to pay. This in turn is used to calculate an EFC (Expected Family Contribution), a number that the school deems the $ your parents are able to pay towards the cost of the school. The outstanding amount will be paid for by the school in a 'financial aid package'.
"Need-Blind"
Dartmouth, MIT and others are considered need-blind & full-need so they don't factor your ability to pay into the admission decision, and if admitted they promise to meet your full need (COA - Financial Aid = EFC). Cornell is also need-blind to all applicants but it is not 'full-need' in the sense that some people may be offered a place without any financial aid largely due to limited funds that are available to international students.
"Need-Aware"
They factor your ability to pay into the admission decisions. Schools like Columbia, Stanford, UPenn, Northwestern are need-aware for international students, and need-blind for US Citizens. They have the ability to give out large financial aid packages but you need to be of the very best caliber to get admitted. There are limited amounts of aid available for internationals, Admissions Officers at Northwestern said that they have had to reject a qualified candidate simply because they did not have enough money.
A statement from Columbia: While Columbia is need-aware for international students, we admit a large number of international students who apply for and receive a substantial amount of financial aid. Which basically translates to, ‘Shoot your shot. If we like you enough we’ll accept you and give you all the $$ you need.’
You'll need to fill in a super-long form (CSS profile) to submit alongside your college application. This will require info about your family's finances, like assets you have.
http://www.harvard-ukadmissions.co.uk/