12k a year for a school of Bates’ caliber is a bargain. If that’s what you have to pay, you can take 5.5k in your federal loans + 3k you can earn if you start working part time now and switch to full time after graduation + $3,500 from your parents. It should be doable. However if it is a hardship, you can email, say that clearly Bates is your #1 school, but your financial aid package while extremely generous makes things difficult -$2,000 may not seem like a big deal but it makes a big difference for your parents (and siblings) life. You can submit some proof of expenses (broken carburetor or leaky heater) and ask for professional judgement. Perhaps they’ll add $2,000 to your package.
Or are the 12k after loans - because I thought Bates didn’t package loans but I may confuse it with another Maine school.
An example: if you find an internship for the summer, Bates will give you a stipend to cover some costs, to make sure that you’re not barred from the opportunity due to parents’income. From that internship you’ll get better, paid internship offers which upon graduation you leverage into a high paying job. UNH won’t- it’s a Public school, they can’t subsidize internships. So you may be at home, working locally. Good money but not helping with your career.
So, in my opinion, Bates is a better investment.
@Lindagaf has a child at Bates and another child considering UNH so she may be able to provide concrete examples of the difference between the two schools.