<p>Ok, my daughter applied ED to a SUNY school, and EA to a couple of others, which are in-state for us. However, all of these schools are a distance from us, and would require room and board.</p>
<p>Even though the College Board ED agreement says that you are bound providing you get a financial aid package that enables you to attend, I was advised that there are basically no institutional grants/scholarships for freshman. Which means, there is nothing but Pell and Tap, which cannot even be applied for until January.</p>
<p>Based on online calculators, our EFC would be about $3000, leaving an unmet need of about $11000! It also stated that we might be eligible for a Pell grant of about $1800.</p>
<p>Now, today we filed an online application for a private college, the total costs of which would be $23000. However, they have an instant scholarship calculator just based on grades and SAT which said my daughter would be eligible for about $16000!!! So if my daughter is still eligible for a Pell grant, am I imagining things, or is my daughter going to be screwed if she is accepted ED to a SUNY?</p>
<p>We can come up with the $3000 EFC by next year, but no way will we have another $11000 for that unmet need. My own student loan debt is crushing and there is no way that we will qualify for Parent Loans with our credit and income status. While work-study may be possible, I am worried that my daughter may be unable to handle work-study and a full-time courseload. I know that I was never able to handle working while in college, although I was raising her at the time. We actually prefer the SUNY's to the private, but I don't want my daughter to be $40000 in debt in 4 years!</p>