That doesn’t really mean anything. Colleges routinely gap low income students.
Having a 0 EFC for Pell only means you qualify for the full Pell grant (~$5800). That’s it.
A zero EFC only means you qualify for Pell. Average aid packages don’t mean anything; all that matters to you is what you’re expected to pay.
You were awarded a $32k grant over 4 years by the private college. Divide that by 4. So that $32k grant over 4 years is only $8k/year.
If you work summers you can probably rsise ~$3k.
That makes your available resources for the private school $5800 (Pell) + $8k (grant) + $3k (work earnings) = ~$17k. Since the COA (cost of attendance) is $48k, your *net cost/i is $31k → ($48k-$17k).
You can only borrow the federal student loan (~$5500/year). That means you’ve been gapped ~$26k/year -->($31k-$5500).
This makes no sense. Is $22k the total cost of attendance if you dorm?
If so, your net here is $22k -$5800 Pell - $3k work earnings = $13k.
If you take the ~$5500 federal student loan, you still need $7500/year.
Can your parents contribute anything? If not, I don’t think either college is affordable.
You said in another thread that you’re from WA state. Is there a college you can commute to from home?