Even for the Ivies, if your EFC is 20K, most will give you only grants, but up to cost of attending minus 20K. And you will need to take out 20K per year of loans in order to pay the difference. No Ivy is going to give you full need AND 20K per year.
The lifestyle choice is mentioned elsewhere. As for “disowned”, if parents refuse to pay ANYTHING for a child’s college, how is that short of being disowned? Could you wrangle $200 of allowance per week, that’s enough for 10K per year…
So OP, here is the question:
- How much could your parents pay for college, if they could be convinced to pay for your college?
- How much WILL your parents pay for college, based on everything you know as of right now?
In my case, I didn’t want to pay more than 30K, our EFC, for my son’s college, but after all the numbers were run, we will be paying more like 40K per year. There were two options that were 20K per year, but I decided they weren’t the best opportunities for my son.
If your parents are predicted to be able to afford 20K per year and they will pay NOTHING, they are not supporting you.
Have you tried intervention, perhaps from a mentor, a teacher, or a member of clergy? Someone to talk to your parents on your behalf? Is it step-parents who are putting the kibosh on your parents paying for your college, or is there something else going on? Do they really mean “I’m not paying 60K!!!” or do they mean “I’m not paying a dime!”
(how about: would you pay anything towards your child’s college, if your and your parents roles were reversed? Something seems VERY suspicious about not wanting to pay ANYTHING towards their child’s college education. Would they agree to pay 10K per year, and you could take out loans for 10K per year?)