"Financial aid statistics are highly misunderstood, especially when it comes to public colleges," The OC Register reports. "For private universities, the statistics can provide a good estimate of a typical award, because the numbers are based on school packaging policy and the funds are coming largely from their own endowments. The statistics often collapse entirely when applied to public colleges. The averages, while accurate, can seldom be used to calculate an expected award for an individual student because most of the financial aid offered is from government (federal and state) funds and eligibility is dictated by government regulations."