Advice? LAC vs money from not super pooper?

Your parents may not have to take out any loans at all, if the difference between their contribution and what they can afford is only $2k. They need to talk to Haverford. That is a completely separate issue from how much YOU can take out in loans. You have 5k to work with before you max out in any given year. $1500 a year for four years gets you $6000 in loan debt after four years. That’s about a quarter of the average loan debt a graduating private college senior winds up carrying.