“Tuition covered” means student loans, not waivers.

Someone I loved was accepted at a school like Stanford with a similar policy. The good news was the entire $50k tuition (10 years ago) was covered, the bad news was that meant $1500 in work study, $6k in scholarships, and $43.5k in student loans guaranteed. Plus $10k for room and board.

The way schools word this is such a dark pattern.

I agree that what you describe doesn't seem honest. I'm also trying to read between the lines of your words. Is that $50k + $10k per semester? Per year? $10k would have covered 4 years of rent in a lot of places 10 years ago, but only one year of room and board in others. $50k still covers 4 years of tuition in lots of places, but not lots of places "like Stanford".

I'm gonna guess that all your numbers represent a single year. Then I have to ask, they only earned $9000 outside of work study during that period? That seems seriously low for a year. Were they prevented from working during the school year?

Tuition was $50k per year. Room and board was $10k per year. So over four years that would be $240k - $30k in benefits, so $210k in student loans. For undergrad.

The school wasn’t as good as Stanford but top 20 and had a similar policy and tuition.

The numbers don’t represent any outside work. The $1500/year was like 8 hours a week doing random university jobs. It possible they could work, but it would be really hard on top of the 8 hours work study and class load.