<p>My EFC is 52k. Apparently my family is super rich and can afford 50k a year for college...NOT.
My parents have been saving up for college for 10 years at least, and they've saved up enough to cover 25k a year for 8 years I think.</p>
<p>So...I've narrowed down my options to UCLA and Northwestern, but Northwestern costs 57k and UCLA costs 30k. I got no aid to UCLA and my Northwestern aid is:</p>
<p>Award Description Category Offered Disbursed Balance
Northwestern Scholarship Grant $2,526.00<br>
Fedl Sub Stafford Loan Loan $2,000.00<br>
Academic Year Totals $4,526.00 </p>
<p>Is there any possible way that I could get any more aid to make NU cost anywhere closer to LA? Because my parents WILL NOT pay for Northwestern, or even put that 25k a year towards it, if I have UCLA on the table.</p>
<p>Should I even try? :(</p>
<p>You can always try so you’ll know you tried but unfortunately with such a high EFC it is not likely they will offer you more money. You’ll never know though unless you try.</p>
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<p>Well…undergrad school is only FOUR years…so they have saved up enough to pay $50,000 a year for four years. </p>
<p>Northwestern’s aid is need based and you have no financial need with an EFC that is near the cost of attendance. It is highly unlikely they will adjust your aid.</p>
<p>Yeah we’ve lived like we’re dirt poor for the last 10 years, saving for college. (8 years for undergrad and graduate school…) Oh well, UCLA it is then.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>bamboozle…UCLA is a FINE school. You make it sound like it’s not. The money your parents have saved can well pay for a private school for four years of undergrad. After that you COULD work and save your own money for grad school…or you might be employed by someone who will assist you with grad school costs. OR you might get an assistantship, scholarship or something like that for grad school.</p>
<p>In the meantime, if your family has decided that they will pay only $25K per year…you need to know that will buy you an excellent education at UCLA.</p>
<p>Yeah UCLA is super, super nice, I was just hoping to go to a college that was different from Southern California and smaller, so that I’d get personal attention and not be just another undergrad bio major mushed in with the other thousand (and no 400-person classes…) Anyways, thanks for all your advice!</p>
<p>Colleges look at the available assets and expect you to expend them over 4 years. They don’t let you set aside half of it–or ANY of it, actually–for grad school. </p>
<p>The good news is that because UCLA–a fine school with a national reputation equal to NU–will cost you only $30K, you will have $70K left over for grad school, study abroad, etc.</p>
<p>And don’t forget to thank your parents for making the sacrifices necessary to save that money.</p>
<p>My take is that UCLA will use up $120K of the $200K, leaving $80K towards grad school, which should be an enormous help.</p>
<p>Maybe the OP should read some of the other posts from OOS kids desperately trying to figure out how to put together the finances to be able to attend UCLA, Cal, or UCSD. </p>
<p>I know the grass is always greener on the other side, but you can get a great bio education there. Did you apply to some LACs where you might get decent merit aid given your stats? Any of those possible? Could you try for a transfer to one?</p>