What is the point of EFC if the family cannot meet it??

^“They aren’t unwilling to do anything”
i don’t know what you mean by this.

The reality is that the hypothetical money can only be

  1. they have the money (inheritance, or something else
  2. they will take loans for you.

They may think there is surprise money you are going to get from the colleges for your grades and that is where they made a bad assumption because most of your schools don’t give merit. I really hope you get full tuition at Alabama!