We use “gapping” to mean colleges that acknowledge, say, a 30k “need,” but offer 10k. And/or then putting in parent loan amounts, to look better than it is. That’s different than a college that says, we calculate you need 10k, here’s how we’ll cover that.
Again, what matters is grant money, realistic work study, how they estimate the student contribution from his summer earnings, maybe a student loan. Parent loans are not FA.
Sorry you face this. But the advice from the best FA savvy on CC is usually to follow true affordability.