<p>mY families est. contrabution is 23k a year. Which is ridiculous considering they only make 101k a year. My parents are only willing to give me 6 to maybe 8k a year without them going completely broke. P.S. my dad has been unemployed for 7 months, but this will not show up till next year's fafsa. I can save about 3k a year or so and accordign to the colleges i appllied to i cna only take out 3,500 a year in student loans. So that equals barely 12k a year not to mention price of living, transportation, a laptop, etc. I orginally wanted to go to some schools that cost nearly 30k but there is no way we can come up with 23k. The only two publical schools that have a good rep in my feild are 19k and 14k both i cnat afford and the first one i hate. How can everyoen afford to go to school but me? I have a3.5 and got a 27 on my act but was right below the line for getting scholarships. Basically im going ot end up working at mcdonalds because i cant find a way to get money. I know this cant be the truth so what are we missing?</p>
<p>first -- your EFC is based on family income and assets (income from last year, assets when you file). If your family has had a change in income (unemployment) you need to ask the school how to file for professional judgement. You will need to contact the financial aid office and they will have you write down the circumstances that have changed (no income from dad, using savings for living expenses, etc) and that may change things.</p>
<p>one of the problems I see is that your EFC was based on last year's income which you said was about 101K -- is that how much your dad made in 6 months (since he was unemployed for 7 months) or did the income show a cash out of a retirement plan or a severance package?</p>
<p>if you do some fancy explaining, you may get more aid.</p>
<p>as far as how much your parents are willing to pay -- you are going to have to sit down with them and try to come up with a plan. They may not understand how much is expected from parents for college. </p>
<p>there is an excellent book called Paying for College Without Going Broke -- go get it and read it.</p>
<p>Finally -- can you retake the ACT to bump it up a point or two and maybe qualify for some merit aid?</p>
<p>I'm guessing that you got that aid package from a college that does not guarantee to meet 100% of students' documented financial need. Most colleges lack the funds to meet the full need of students, particularly students who are low income.</p>
<p>As to how people go to college: Many, particularly low income people, live at home and commute to 2-year or 4-year public colleges. Even high stat people may start at 2-year public college where they can get excellent merit aid, and later transfer to a local 4-year public university.</p>
<p>Some people also get money for college by taking out loans, working, taking time off and participating in Americorps (In addition to earning $200 or so a week, at the end of the year, you get $4,700 that you can use for college. You can do this for up to 2 years), or joining ROTC.</p>
<p>People also get money through outside merit aid. This is easiest to get through locally offered scholarships.</p>
<p>The majority of people have to take costs into consideration when considering what college they can go to. </p>
<p>You have other choices beside working at McDonalds for the rest of your life because you apparently can't afford your first choice college.</p>
<p>You can always take out loans...Depending on your major, anything from 20k to 80k in loans is manageable.</p>
<p>try applying to a small school which might not be AS good but will still give you financial aid by merit. there are a lot of them on the east coast.</p>
<p>"How can everyoen afford to go to school but me?"</p>
<p>You're not the only one in the rocky financial aid boat. My EFC is much higher than my family can pay. I may not have much good advice (still trying to figure out how to afford college myself), but have faith that there are many out there in the same situation, and some how many of us manage to get to college. Good luck ;)</p>