@thumper1 Great information. One thing that high schools and colleges should probably do a better job of, is basic family economics. Home Ec should be centered on THIS, not on teaching kids how to make macaroni and cheese from scratch and sew stuffed animals.
Update: Applied to UA. Regional admissions guy was awesome; basically said I can still be in the NMF program. Sent application, SAT scores, and ACT scores. Canât send transcripts until 4/9 because my school is on spring break. But admissions guy said that was fine!!
So happy at the advice all of you gave me!!!
Also applied to UB last night as a safety safety. I can have free tuition (STEM) and live at my auntâs house room and board for free.
again, thank you all so much
A big congratulations for quickly taking steps towards a solution.
Give yourself credit for not wallowing & not getting stuck.
You have a super power!
I think that calling the FAFSA result an âExpected Family Contributionâ is a major cause of confusion. The FAFSA EFC in no way tells any student how much they should expect to pay anywhere for a year of college. If you want that information, use the NPC for the specific school you are interested in, and hopefully your family financial situation isnât too far out of the norm (or the school has done a good job putting in place a detailed NPC that takes many different situations into account). The number that you get at the end of the FAFSA process will tell you eligibility for federal aid, which is limited, and, depending on your state of residence, maybe state aid as well. But itâs not supposed to tell you how much you are expected to pay to go to that dream school.
@cf12345 My ds is a sr at Bama. When we started this process with him I would never have guessed heâd end up at Bama. He has loved it.
Please let us all know how this all turns out. It seems like you will have some good choices to make.
@cj12345 Look at the numbers. The UA NMF package is awesome but you might want to consider taking your Freshman year Stafford loan of $5500 and banking it. You do have your room paid for the first year but taking the Freshman loan might give your family wiggle room especially with sibling expenses and travel.
A lot of them donât get jobs directly related to their degree unless they get a certification for that particular job. Iâm seeing a lot of employers wanting a masters degree with 5 years experience for a good job.
Community college grads out-earn bachelorâs degree holders -
http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/26/pf/college/community-college-earnings/index.html
That article says that 30% of AA/AS degree graduates outearn BA/BS degree graduates (presumably the average of some sort).
Meaning that many AA/AS graduates do better than many BA/BS graduates, but probably not the majority. Probably has a lot to do with majors.
Did you mean the above for someone else? I think my posts have indicated that their family canât afford their EFC. Thatâs why Iâve been suggesting that he apply to Bama since heâs a NMF. Iâve been mystified as to why he applied to ND and Yale since those schools are need-based aid schools and the family can only pay $5k
Edit⊠yayâŠapplied to Bama
Excited for you OPâŠDD has had a fabulous 4 years at UA, and I know you will find all you are hoping for at UA.
Yâall are like a cult, lol 
@fzehigh
I would love to hear how you did this, if you donât mind sharing. I find my family in the same situation, except that we did save for college but due to taking care a elderly MIL, it is all gone, along with our savings. We are middle class with only one child. I had mentioned before that I would like to pay off our one and only bill which is our mortgage and just put our payments toward the EFC which is about 30k. Do not want to take out loans and would prefer that my child doesnât have to either. When I mentioned this to various people, they thought I was crazy! Lol. Just wanted your thoughtsâŠ
- Look for cheaper schools - e.g., your state schools
- Attend Community College for 2 years and then transfer to a state school
- Look for colleges where your GPA/SAT/ACT is well above average to get merit scholarships
@labegg You know, 4 yrs ago I was turned off by the Bama cheerleading. I never thought it would be the school our ds would attend. But, it was our best financial option. Soon after he started attending, it was very obvious why there is so much cheerleading. 
@gearmom Thanks for the advice. Luckily, my mom, who works part time right now, might be going back to full time. That would push our income north of 200k most likelyâŠalso giving more money for travel expenses. I also have 11k in a 529 account; between all of this I still have hope to graduate loan free. Thank you all again. You have no idea how thrilled my parents are about UA. 
@cj12345 You might want to look into the Emerging Scholars program. I am not very familiar with it b/c our ds was in RRS, but its purpose is similar to RRSâs. The program is focused on connecting students with professors to mentor them on research. I know that there are definitely research opportunities in the math dept bc ds was asked if he wanted to join a research project. He turned it down bc his focus is physics.
https://undergraduateresearch.ua.edu/emerging-scholars-program/
https://undergraduateresearch.ua.edu/for-students/
Since you will be eligible for 5 yrs of full tuition, also research the accelerated masters program: https://graduate.ua.edu/accelerated-masters-program/ (Being able to take grad level courses as an UG will strengthen your grad school applications. If you enter with enough credit hours, you might be eligible to take grad level courses earlier on with dept approval.)
Unless you live in Lake Wobegon, the way averages work is there are always those above the average and those below the average. Sounds like you want your kids in a school where theyâre at or below average and couldnât afford that - Iâm sorry that was the case for your family. However, having above average stats at a school does not mean students are doomed to a life of asking âdo you want fries with thatâ?
Often the above average stats students - especially those at schools with good honors programs - have amazing opportunities available to them because of their standing as top students. My family members all took full advantage of those opportunities. Somehow we managed to not only survive the psychological scarring of studying with students whose stats were not equal to or higher than ours, we went on to thrive. And with no debt due to those merit aid scholarships. We also managed to find similarly motivated students who were our academic equals - or betters - who pushed us to do more, as well as mentors who helped shape us⊠I wouldnât consider we settled - I would say we made the most of the opportunities that were available to us rather than complaining about what we couldnât have.
@InigoMontoya Absolutely! That has been our kidsâ experience as well.