<p>This is easy. It’s a great aid package. You do work study and you work in the summer. Your parent can do a monthly payment plan to spread out her portion of the tuition. (She’ll get a bunch of it back in a tax refund anyway.) And if it ever gets to be a problem you can always borrow a small amount to make ends meet, but I doubt you’ll have to.</p>
<p>If you have a better offer somewhere, take it. But as a family with a nearly identical income and a kid at a school with similar aid policies as Princeton, your aid award looks pretty much like I’d expect. It is excellent.</p>