<p>I recieved an average package for the U of Rochester. I was gogi to call the finanicial aid office tomorrow and talk about my aid. It cost around $45,000 a year to go there. I recieved around $28,000 but there was a lot of loans so really i only got $21,000. There is no way my parents can pay because they make about 45,000 a year plus i have an older brother in Pharmacy school that cost $27,000 a year. U of Rochester is pretty thorough with their aid, I mean I submitted the CSS where I clearly stated that I have a older brother in college. Also my FAFSA EFC was only $2,050. so what's the deal? what should I do? any suggestions?</p>
<p>I think you have a couple of factors that may be working against you in this case. First -- your FAFSA EFC doesn't mean much if the school requires a Profile (which Rochester does, as you mentioned). What was your EFC based on the IM method? Since it calculates in many more factors, it is often much higher. Second -- schools do not all take into account siblings in graduate school (which your brother is), thus your parents may be expected to pay 100% of the calculated IM EFC. Third -- just about every FA package (except Princeton's) included loans. From what you said, you got $7000 in loans -- the college board reports that the typical financial aid package is comprised of 30% loans -- you package is only 25% loans, so you did better than average there.</p>
<p>My suggestion is that you talk to the FA office about an appeal due to your brother being at pharmacy school -- but be aware, they may not offer you any more help. </p>
<p>With such a low FAFSA EFC, you may want to attend a school that just looks at FAFSA</p>