<p>I'm really at a loss on how to talk to my parents about financial aid and support. The situation's a bit complicated:</p>
<p>My parents have had my brother and I convinced for the longest time that we make very little money. Our parents would begrudge us small necessities, like buying needed clothes (we're not talking fancy or name-brand clothes). We got very little money for Christmas, birthdays, or other holidays. And we were okay with that, because we assumed that's all our parents had.</p>
<p>In fact, my parents have a pretty decent amount of income and access to significant funds from relatives. They're both disabled now, but they're bringing in quite a lot. Due to some tax stuff I don't understand, a lot of this money is not taxable and not counted by the FASFA. Thus, the federal government gives us a lot, but my private school is looking at the overall picture and reasonably asking for about $3,000 a semester. My brother's public school doesn't meet demonstrated need, so he's left with a gap of a few thousand a year.</p>
<p>My parents haven't saved any money for our college expenses--their parents completely paid for their school from undergraduate to doctorate. As a result, my parents just kind of assume that someone else ought to be taking care of our expenses... like the university itself, or the tooth fairy.</p>
<p>Frankly, my brother and I feel that we've been financially under-supported our whole lives. We both need some assistance from our parents to cover basic living expenses (travel to and from school, basic living supplies, etc.) as well as a little more from our parents to cover direct charges from the university. We think it's unfair for us to have to take significant amounts of loans to cover our Expected Family Contribution that my parents can easily cover. I worked and saved in high school and now in college, but it just doesn't make a dent in these expenses.</p>
<p>My parents respond by saying how much they'd like to help us, but that they just have so many health expenses and don't what what the future holds. Yet, they just went out and spent >$60,000 on two new cars, when my mother can't even drive. And they eat effectively all of their meals out at fancy restaurants. This makes my brother and I very angry because they don't want to spend nearly any money to help us through school.</p>
<p>What's the best way to approach them about this?</p>