<p>This is the BIG problem with our current financial aid system. If you are really poor with a minimal EFC, then you wont have too much of a problem. If you are well off with an extremely high EFC, then u can afford to pay for college. BUT if u get stuck in the middle, as the OP is, then unfortunately YOU ARE SCREWED. You make too much money for significant need based aide but still dont make enough to finance ur college education by urself. Since you said u are applying to HYPS Duke and Vandy, then i think u shud take out loans and shell out the money for those schools because they will give u a top notch education. But if u dont want to, then just go to UT-Austin, u may not like it but it actually is a a good school, one of the best public in the country.</p>
<p>Even though you may not like this answer, I will say that you should go to the University of Texas, get your bachelors, and then go to one of the elite for grad school. UT is not an inferior college, you should still strongly consider it.</p>
<p>Here's what I would do:</p>
<ol>
<li>Check FAFSA numbers and validity.</li>
<li>Wait for decisions and financial packages to come.</li>
<li>Decide where you want to go to college.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'd agree with the double-checking. </p>
<p>I also have four siblings (two of us will be in college next year), but a family income of about 150k. My EFC was 24k. </p>
<p>The CSS profile takes in account a lot more. For me, it was about equal to my FAFSA efc (I think due to a slightly complicated situation), but assuming your family doesn't have high home equity or anything else along those lines, it should go down if your school meets 100% of need.</p>
<p>You know everybody misses the point. It is a shame that smart kids have to settle because they are considered middle class. Yet, more privileged kids with maybe lower qualifications can go to the school of their choice because their parents can afford it. </p>
<p>Let's be real 95K is not a lot of money to have a family. It is a lot of money for a single person. Yes, some of you have scraped and sacrificed to save since your child was in the womb. Wow! However, everyone has different situations. Many of us had to barely scrape by when the kids were small and then suffered unemployment due to the ups and downs of the economy in recent years. Ye, college remains way too expensive. It is ridiculous and nobody seems to be concerned about that. Everyone is mostly that people did not save enough and feel entitled. I think if you worked hard and studied, you should be entitled to get a good education. This is the way it is in some European countries. Here we base a child's future on the luck of the parents and not the potential of the child. What kind of incentive do we give the children to work hard if they end up at the community college at the end of the day.</p>
<p>I can certainly understand the frustration of the OP.</p>
<p>You know everybody misses the point. It is a shame that smart kids with potential have to settle because they are considered middle class. Yet, more privileged kids with maybe lower qualifications can go to the school of their choice because their parents can afford it. </p>
<p>Let's be real 95K is not a lot of money to have a family. It is a lot of money for a single person. Yes, some of you have scraped and sacrificed to save since your child was in the womb. Wow! However, everyone has different situations. Many of us parents had to barely scrape by when the kids were small and then suffered unemployment due to the ups and downs of the economy in recent years. Even with college degrees, our jobs were outsourced, downsized, fill in the blanks. Yet, college remains way too expensive. It is ridiculous and nobody seems to be concerned about that. Everyone is mostly that people did not save enough and feel entitled. I think if you worked hard and studied, you should be entitled to get a good education. This is the way it is in some European countries. Here we base a child's future on the luck of the parents and not the potential of the child. What kind of incentive do we give the children to work hard if they end up at the community college at the end of the day.</p>
<p>I can certainly understand the frustration of the OP.</p>
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<p>Nevermind, my efc (now that it has been edited) is considerably higher than 1000…</p>