My family is expected to pay $40k per year, but after figuring out all of the math, my parents would have to spend 1/3 of their income and a couple thousand dollars of our savings per year on my education (I have a younger sister who is a freshman too)
Of all of the colleges I have been accepted into, I have received their highest merit aid awards and have been accepted into all of their honors programs (I’m not bragging, I’m just saying that its not like I barely got into the schools).
My parents aren’t too thrilled about them practically going bankrupt to send me to school, but they also don’t want me to graduate with a ton of debt.
I have applied to a ton of scholarships as well, but those aren’t guaranteed.
Is there any way I could appeal although my EFC is really high?
You can always appeal. I think what you really want to know is what your chances of success would be, and without a lot more information about your family’s financial situation and the aid packages that you have been offered, anything anyone her can tell you would just be a wild guess.
What is your financial safety?
Are you only accepted to colleges that cost in excess of $40,000 a year? What is the cost of your instate public universities? Most of those do not cost $40,000 a year for an instate student.
Do you have a financial safety? Did you apply to SUNY (if you are a STEM major who is graduating in the top 10% of the class you would have free tuition)?
My financial safety would be SUNY binghamton, SUNY buffalo, and Clarkson (they gave me $33k in merit, which i didn’t learn about until today).
I’m from NY and I’m going to major in engineering, but my parents are refusing to take up that offer since they’re both teachers in the SUNY and NYS public school systems, and not to get too political, aren’t huge fans of Cuomo and are afraid the bill will be repealed in the next couple of years.
My favorite schools are RIT and RPI which would cost $35 and I’m not every sure if I have been accepted into RPI yet.
RPI would only cost 35k? How?
If it is 1/3 of income plus a few thousands a year, it should be affordable. Particularly if your parents have set aside money for education fund. If you are only paying EFC, consider yourself lucky.
@billsho OP is paying less than the EFC so I’m not sure what can be appealed.
@gearmom He/she can appeal for receiving too much aid. 
@gearmom Nope, RIT would be 35, RPI releases their admissions decisions this Saturday and I assume financial aid stuff comes shortly after.
And okay thank you everyone, my family is just sorta getting over the shock. when you think about it, these schools are $3,000 each month, which seems a little daunting.
You don’t have to go to a school with a $3000 a month price tag. As a STEM major in the top 10% of your class (are you in the top 10% of your class), you could have free tuition in the SUNY system. It’s your choice not to take that offer. It’s really a form of merit aid for STEM majors. I find it interesting that your family will allow you to take other merit aid offers…but not the STEM one which would get you free tuition.
Even at full pay, the SUNY schools will cost less than $3000 a month.
You have choices that are affordable. You just don’t want those as much as the expensive ones. That is fine…as long as your parents are willing to pay your college bills.
Choices, choices.
@mea1997 Is the expected amount very different than the numbers you calculated on the NPCs? Actually, that is not a very high EFC. The expectation is not to take the EFC from your salary. The expectation is that your family has saved money for college, acquired assets that they can borrow against and have a good salary. So think of it as one third from savings, one third from loans and one third from salary. As an engineering student, you could handle paying back the max Stafford loans if you needed to help out and could work in the summer to help with cost. The privates you like are luxury choices though and many families choose more affordable state schools instead. Your family seems like it will sacrifice for the private option as some families do. Last year a student choose RPI over his nearly free state school and to do so the family will take on 100k in debt. Having been to a state school for undergrad and RPI for graduate, I would never make that choose for my own child but to each is own.
Why aren’t you going to a SUNY with some merit???
What are your stats???
You have an ACT 34. You could have gotten very large merit at a number of schools.
If you’re engineering, then send an app to UAH…great for eng’g…and you’d get at least full tuition award, probably more.
If you went to SUNY and If the merit bill were to be repealed and if you were not grandfathered and if the school was not able to identify other scholarships to fill in the gap, then would it still be more affordable than your other options?
You could also try to ask for more money from one school based on another’s offer but it sounds like you think you have maxed that out.
Unless you have had a change in circumstances or a mistake in the FAFSA, not sure what the grounds for appeal would be. Not liking the answer (and who does?) isn’t really grounds.
And applying to colleges that are too expensive is also part of the problem. No one MUST attend a college where they have to pay $40,000 a year.
You can ask. IMO you won’t get anywhere. You have some good options mentioned in this thread. I would take the STEM grant and run. I really doubt they will kill it for students already in the program (too many waves). And if they do you will still have received that scholarship for however many years it runs. If your parents are worried about losing it they can put money aside just in case to pay for the later tuition.
Yes it makes more sense to take the full tuition SUNY offer. You will save money over going to the more expensive schools for every year this program keeps going. Even if it stopped, like others pointed out, it would still be less at the instate SUNY. Who is to say how much college costs will contine rising every year? The other schools could raise tuition by $5k or more every year. So if your parents don’t like the current cost it would only get worse.
Does the OP want to remain in NYS after graduation? I believe the free tuition offer comes with a required 5-year hitch in New York once you’ve earned your degree. NYS is a highly prized destination for many kids on CC but once in a while you get some oddballs like my daughters who want to experience life anywhere but in the place they grew up.