While we’re waiting for all the acceptances to roll in, it’s probably a good idea to point out that those students whose family income is low enough to qualify for federal aid only get a maximum of ~$5k/year federal grant. Even with the $5500 guaranteed federal student loan, it’s not enough to pay for most 4-year schools. Please try not to resent the families who are qualifying for Pell, esp. if your family makes $100k+/year. You’d have to give up half your income to qualify for that $5k grant. The higher your family income, the more you’d have to give up to qualify. It’s difficult to be in the middle where we make too much to get aid but not enough to be full pay, but we could do worse.
Actually, Austin, your EFC needs to be $0 to get the full $5730 Pell Grant…so a family would need to reduce their income to an amount generating that EFC…and that is lower than $50,000 a year income.
Old saying…don’t count other people’s money. It’s really a waste of your time to speculate about the financial aid of others in comparison to your own.
You could always pretend to be poor. Put half of your income in saving and think of that as a whopping financial aid offer.
Ah, but that would require a change in standard of living.