<p>Ypu can only borrow $5500 as a frosh, so if you add that to your parents’ $5k, then that’s $10,500.</p>
<p>that means that you need at least a full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>[10</a> Best Values in Private Colleges Under $20K - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-best-values-in-private-colleges-under--20k-25553614.html]10”>10 Best Values in Private Colleges Under $20K)</p>
<p>Many Ivy Leagues have great financial aid! Except Princeton doesn’t seem like it gives out much…</p>
<p>
Princeton is extraordinarily generous with financial aid. Students from families making as much as $140,000 pay virtually no tuition, and students from families making less than $60,000 get a full ride. Additionally, it was the first college in the country to eliminate loans for all students, and its students have the lowest debt load of any private university.</p>
<p>Kiplinger rates Princeton as the third best value among private universities, behind only Yale and Rice.</p>
<p>[Best</a> Values in Private Colleges, 2012-13](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/privatecolleges/]Best”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts)</p>
<p>^ The OP seems to be talking about merit aid, not need-based. Princeton (like many super-selective schools) does not award merit aid. </p>
<p>The OP’s budget appears to be about $10K - $15K ($5K from her parents, $5500 in loans, plus her own earnings). What she hasn’t indicated is her EFC. EFC minus budget is the minimum gap she needs to cover with merit aid (plus any additional gap that the school does not cover between EFC and COA).</p>