<p>Regardless of which parent is providing the more accurate forecast, student loans plus work study plus summer job should be enough to cover expenses at even the most expensive of the three.</p>
<p>??</p>
<p>Do we know if the student will get work study? </p>
<p>Do we know whether the student’s FA pkg will already have student loans in it to “meet need”? If so, then he won’t be able to use loans to cover any amount that his family can’t pay. </p>
<p>If the student’s aid already has full loans in it, and his parents can only pay $11-12k, then it may be hard for the student to come up with the other $5k on his own. </p>
<p>I agree with waiting and seeing what the FA pkgs look like. </p>
<p>In the meantime, $12k is $1k per month. January, February, and March can be “test months” for your parents to see how much they can put towards college each month. If they find that they can save $1200 each month to use towards college, then your dad may be more accurate. If they find that 1000 is all they can swing, then your mom may be right. If they find that during these 3 months that they can’t meet either estimate, then you’ll make your decision based on that.</p>
<p>Each year we see posts from freshman who have to transfer out of their pricier schools because their families really can’t afford for them to continue. At that point, the student has lost their better merit opportunities elsewhere. These families usually are ones who planned on paying out of current income. If many of them had tested their ability to see if they can contribute X amount each month prior to making the final college decision, some may have learned early on that a school wasn’t affordable.</p>