<p>So the FAFSA, for one reason or another, churned out a 0 for my EFC even though my parents make 65K a year. Part of that might have been that my parents don't own a house and my brother is also going to a UC campus next year. Either way, Pomona gave me about 45K in terms of scholarships. My parents have to pay about 17K on their own. This is a pretty big sum for my family. Should I appeal for more money? The UCs have offered me about 22K in terms of scholarships, with a total EFC of 8K. Ultimately, my parents will be only paying about 6K a year, counting in federal work study. In short, it will be much cheaper for me to go to a UC than Pomona. I have already committed to Pomona though because I like it more, but ultimately, can I get more money? please help thx</p>
<p>I can’t see how it would hurt to try, though I have no idea how successful you will be without any new information to add. I don’t think they will feel they have to match the UC offers. Just to clarify, is the Pomona aid package all grants? Are you able to get a work study job or loans also? Those, plus working this summer could help a lot with the $17000.</p>
<p>@mamabear1234 Yes, the aid is all grants and work study. So I’ll give like a rundown. The Pomona scholarship, plus the pell grant, totals at about 43K. Then, I will be able to work $2500 per year. The final cost is 17K for my parents. Basically, the aid covers all of my tuition. At the bottom of the estimated costs, it also mentions that my parents can apply for various state and federal loans, as well as payment options. The thing is that I really want to avoid taking loans as much as possible (as is everyone else) 
I will most likely work in the summer, and with Pomona’s amazing paid internship programs, I don’t think that it would be very difficult to acquire one. </p>
<p>Well, like I said above, I don’t think there’s any harm in appealing. I’m not sure how common it is for freshman to get summer paid internships, though my D is a freshman and is doing paid research this summer. I would advise you to develop a good relationship with a professor you may want to work with. Good luck.</p>
<p>@mamabear1234 thank you very much for your info!</p>