How can I compare Stanford and UVA’s affordability after financial aid?

Compare Stanford and UVA using each school’s official financial-aid offer, not the published sticker price: the lower-cost option is the one with the lower four-year amount your family must actually pay or borrow. Start with grants and scholarships, because those reduce the bill and do not need to be repaid. Treat federal loans, parent loans, and work-study as ways to finance costs, not as reductions in cost.

For each offer, calculate: billed charges (tuition, required fees, housing, and food) plus realistic indirect costs (books, travel, personal expenses, and health insurance if applicable), minus institutional grants, outside scholarships, and federal or state grants. The remaining figure is your family’s annual net cost. Separately list student loan amounts, any parent borrowing your family expects to use, and the work-study amount; work-study is earned through a job and is not usually credited upfront to the university bill.

UVA’s affordability can look very different depending on whether you are a Virginia resident: in-state tuition is far lower, while nonresident students face a substantially higher base cost and should scrutinize the grant amount closely.

Use the same assumptions for both schools: whether a parent’s income will change, how much travel will cost, whether aid is renewable on the same terms, and whether grants depend on maintaining a particular enrollment status or academic standard. Also ask each financial-aid office to clarify any unexplained difference in calculated need, especially if one school used home equity, business assets, or a noncustodial parent differently. A four-year spreadsheet that separates grants from borrowing will make the financial difference much clearer than either award letter alone.