<p>I got accepted to the University of Pennsylvania - my dream college. I was so happy I cried...and now I've found out that I can't afford it. We received our financial aid information, and it was not anywhere near enough. The EFC from my FAFSA was MUCH higher than we expected. I understand that there are many factors that go into this, so I'm not trying to discuss that. It's just that my parents have already accepted the fact (as in, told me) that I will just have to go to a state college (that offered me a good scholarship) for two years, and then MAYBE I can transfer to UPenn. I know I am not the only one in this predicament, but I am absolutely heartbroken. I've been applying to scholarships like mad, but even if I win every one (and I don't expect to win any), it will not be enough. At the moment I have a National Merit Scholarship, and that's all.</p>
<p>Sorry to draw this out so much, but I recently remembered that I applied for a PA State Grant, but I see they don't give information until May. So I was wondering what I could expect...I know I haven't given any helpful information, but based on the fact that I received a relatively low amount of financial aid, my EFC was high, etc. - can I expect ANYTHING? maybe a very small number? I am completely desperate; I can't believe I've worked so hard, experienced such elation, just to have it all thrown back in my face now.</p>
<p>Thanks for any help/advice, and I apologize if I sound melodramatic...</p>
<p>*but I recently remembered that I applied for a PA State Grant, but I see they don’t give information until May. *</p>
<p>I believe that that grant is given by income. If your EFC is highish, I don’t see how you’d qualify for it.</p>
<p>What was your FAFSA EFC? </p>
<p>How much does UPenn expect your family to pay?</p>
<p>how much will your family pay?</p>
<p>Since you are a NMF, there are other schools that will STILL give you big NMF scholarships, so you might want to quickly apply to them…you could go there for 2 years and then transfer.</p>
<p>That’s what I thought…</p>
<p>The EFC was around 53k (I was kind of in shock). Penn expects us to pay 44k. All we are able to pay, according to my parents, is 13k.</p>
<p>I’m not exactly sure how my parents were planning to afford any college…they always told me that money would not be an issue, to apply where I want and we would figure something out - so I never expected to be in this situation. It’s been a huge slap in the face to go through all of the craziness over the past few years, hearing encouragement and getting my hopes up, finally feeling everything fall into place when I got that acceptance letter, (I’ve had a REALLY bad school year, and this has been literally the only good event I can think of) only to get “oh, nope, guess it won’t work” just a few days after getting the financial aid information. And I know I’m being incredibly selfish, because I do have the means to go to a relatively cheap college for the next two years due to that school’s scholarship, but Penn has been such a PERFECT option for me that I just can’t accept this. </p>
<p>Again, I really didn’t mean to turn this into an emotional thread, but I can barely think straight I’m so upset. I appreciate any advice.</p>
<p>Don’t give up on your dream school! Have you checked into a PLUS loan? It’s a student loan that your parents apply for but unlike loans that students are eligible for they can borrow up to the full cost of your schooling. If they would be willing to try maybe you could get one for the first year just to get started at University of PA and it would give you time to get scholarships or find another way to pay.</p>
<p>PS Congrats on getting into University of PA, it’s a good school that was on my son’s list too!</p>
<p>thank you jygriebel!</p>
<p>I think the problem is that the loan would be very large and a LOT to pay off in the future, and we would have to keep taking out more because according to a meeting with the financial aid office, we might not get ANY financial aid in the coming years (we only got some this year because my mother was sort of unemployed, but she’ll probably be working later on). which means after four years, that would be a ton of debt…I don’t know what other way we could pay. None of the scholarships I’ve looked at now cover very much, and I assume it’s harder to find scholarships when you’re already in college?</p>
<p>The main message from my parents is that Penn = massive debt that I could not possibly pay off in the future. But I haven’t looked into the details yet, so I will definitely find out more about PLUS loans</p>
<p>Well here is the link for PLUS Loans:</p>
<p>[Student</a> Aid on the Web](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/parentloans.jsp]Student”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/parentloans.jsp)</p>
<p>Like I said if your parents would be willing to do the loan for the first year until you could find other sources to help you. It has a ten year repayment schedule so you might be able to afford it.</p>
<p>Also I don’t know where you look for scholarships but the following website is the best and most comprehensive I have found and it includes scholarships for college students.</p>
<p><a href="http://www..com%5B/url%5D">http://www..com</a></p>
<p>Best of luck to you with everything!</p>
<p>In my previous post it wouldn’t paste the website for scholarships correctly for some reason, sorry. The website is *****.com</p>
<p>I am sorry you’re in this predicament; I have always had the fear of getting into my dream school and then not being able to go. I really think you should look at every option and don’t give up yet! Did you try calling UPen and asking them to reconsider the financial aid? Perhaps express how much you want to go there and that you cannot due to financial reasons (you could mention the aid you received elsewhere.)</p>
<p>well like I said, my parents met with someone at the financial aid office, and they won’t give me any more. And the worst part is that freshman year could, theoretically, be manageable, but then for the next three years we wouldn’t be getting ANYTHING, and all the savings would be spent, so I’d pretty much have to take out all three years worth of the cost in loans.
apparently my parents also met the admissions counselor who read my application before their meeting, and she told them that we shouldn’t have any problems and if we do, we should contact her. I don’t know what she could do, but I’ll be emailing her tomorrow…and I will probably mention the other scholarship like Metrical suggested.</p>
<p>By the way, I posted this in the completely wrong forum…sorry everyone lol, it wasn’t meant to go under national merit scholarships.</p>