<p>When you are looking at the cost of your colleges, you should look at their official Cost of Attenance, and then make your personal adjustments. You are talking about $5K more in “travel budget and collee materials” that you think you will need. Each school should have a bottom line cost that is your best guess in what the full cost is, and then you subtract out the grants you get. What’s left is what you and your parents have to pay, and then you can see what you have in work money, savings, loans(staffords) that can reduce that figure. It seems to me you are getting mixed messages from your parents, and it won’t be until you have all the numbers in front of all of you before you can get a firm commitment. It happens all of the time that parents say, “we’ll work it out” and other stock lines until it’s time to pay.</p>
<p>Also “special circumstances” can really be dicey when it comes down to the dollar amount a colllege will give towards them. Medical expenses in particular are not taken into account on a dollar for dollar basis. Many families and students have been disappointed in how much financial aid is given towards those amounts. </p>
<p>But really, until you get the award letters, it’s all guesswork. I hope the numbers come in the way you hope. Good luck.</p>