<p>OK I am most likely going to Penn State UP in the fall. I received awful financial aid to say the least. 31,000 oos and they gave me $2000 and change for the year. My parents appealed it and they said they can't do anything about it. My parents keep telling me they'll just pay it there's nothiing else to do. But I know the burden on them is huge.</p>
<p>I have started to look into scholarships more. I have not done any scholarship forms because most of them I would have had no chance of winning. You may say "Hey you never know" but let's be realistic here. I cannot find a lot of good scholarships.</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do? This is a huge financial burden for my family. I am 1 of 5 kids with an older brother about to graduate college and an older sister at NYU.</p>
<p>My son is there too and we are out of state as well. Is the $2000 a stafford loan? If so that will increase a bit each year and so lower their total bill. Look for cheaper books (some people buy them online and really save). Get a sumer job to help contribute. Get a campus job during the school year. Look into living off campus your sophomore year. (depends on if that saves you any money). Are you in engineering? If so I will warn you tuition goes up for that during junior and senior year (I was real surprised when I got that bill!) But they have a great engineering program so it is worth it in the long run.</p>
<p>Study really, really hard your first year and then perhaps you can apply for some scholarships that are for kids already in college.</p>
<p>Many scholarship competitions are really just essay contests--they don't even look at grades, EC's etc. Are you a decent writer? If so, do your best work and enter some of these. </p>
<p>As far as filling out those forms, if it's not too late at least apply to some of the local or regional contests where the competition isn't as fierce. I know in our town last year, one organization called my friend to ask why her daughter didn't apply for their scholarship. She was eligible because of an extra-curricular involvement with the organization, but hadn't bothered to enter. As it turned out, there was no one else who applied and the money went unused. Of course this doesn't happen often, but it really does happen. Are there any scholarships through your parents' employers for example? At least the applicant pool would be limited.</p>