<p>So I got into Columbia University....</p>
<p>Woohoo, right?</p>
<p>Well they're charging me $64 k and my family makes approximately $180 k a year. My parents are only willing to pay $25k because they have other children. </p>
<p>What do I do? I already appealed for more financial aid. GAAAH! I hate how they lie and say they meet 100% of demonstrated need.</p>
<p>Columbia lie? Naaaah, but they will bury you in bureaucratic red tape sometimes.</p>
<p>As for meeting 100% of demonstrated need, they clearly claim to meet it if your folks make less than 60k a year. If your parents make between 100k-60k they will give you significant aid. Anything over 120k and you’re on your own. It stinks, yes, but unfortunately your folks’ income falls right in that trouble-zone where they make too much for need-based aid but not enough that an elite school’s price tag won’t hurt.</p>
<p>Since you had the academic chops to get into Columbia, here’s hoping that you applied to a financial safety that will offer you an equivalent education. Columbia’s a great school but going into full tuition debt to attend might not be a good idea.</p>
<p>This is why my kids will never apply to these high price colleges. We would get nothing in FA and there is no use in getting disappointed. Colleges do not care that there are other children in your family that need to attend college, unless more than one is in college at the same time. Yeah everyone can afford 256k per child. Well no one with a 180k year can afford 768k for 3 children to attend college. I don’t care how long you save. There is no way you can do this and live.</p>
<p>@azrala, here’s an idea. This is what I would do in your shoes.</p>
<p>1) borrow to the hilt. I mean it, take no prisoners, grab every dollar you can, regardless of interest rate, just so long as payments are deferred until after graduation </p>
<p>2) kill in your schoolwork. Magna/Summa level so you can</p>
<p>3) get some post-grad scholarship overseas or something where </p>
<p>4) you can remain while </p>
<p>5) you default on all your loans and</p>
<p>6) remain out of the US until</p>
<p>7) the statute of limitations hits (I believe it’s six years in NY) and your debt is no longer collectible.</p>
<p>There y’go. Problem solved!</p>
<p>And all that trouble just to go to Ivy? And that “dream school” might not even be your dream school at all once you go there (many students like it, but many don’t). I know it doesn’t look right, but that is the life. We have similar problem, lots of disappointment. We all want the best for our children, but this is not the end of the world. I am sure you can shine somewhere else, and you can go to this school for your Masters or PhD with good GPA, research, internships. This is the path, and this is what really determines your future occupation.</p>
<p>tortoise,</p>
<p>Your information is incorrect. </p>
<p>[SLCS</a> - Student Loan Counseling Service, Inc.](<a href=“http://www.slcsloanhelp.com/consequences_of_default.aspx]SLCS”>http://www.slcsloanhelp.com/consequences_of_default.aspx)</p>
<p>@smileygerl, no kidding? So the only two “crimes” for which there is no statute of limitations is defaulting on your student loans…and murder?</p>
<p>Ok, in that case, OP, proceed to your local community college immediately!</p>
<p>Are you serious, OP? Columbia has met 100% of your demonstrated need. If your parents make $180K/year, then they can spare $64K. If they don’t want to, that’s not Columbia’s problem.</p>
<p>@pwoods, just to confirm…you are joking, right?</p>
<p>OP, financial aid id for the financially needy.</p>
<p>I know the situation is frustrating, but your household is in the top 4% of earners in the US . . . it’s reasonable for financial aid to go to the bottom 90%, right?</p>
<p>P.S. Parents and kids, have that explicit “what we can afford”: talk DURING the application process - so that you can add financial aid safety schools if needed - not AFTER acceptances roll in.</p>
<p>Did you submit all of your FA forms or talk to Columbia’s financial aid office? My family is in a very similar financial situation and Columbia is giving us approx. 40k in grants and work study, meaning we pay about 25k out of pocket each year. In fact, the original award was even lower (they expected us to pay 38k or something), but after speaking with the FA office they changed it.</p>