This is what I still am baffled by.
Yes I DID apply for financial aid at all the placed I got into. My parents have both been unemployed for the past 6 years, and we don’t make anywhere close to 250,000 per year (we have no income!!!). Yet we received no financial aid at Berkeley or the other UC’s (not from California) and none from NYU (despite the fact that my dad did his PhD studies at Courant and that I’m from NY). At Brown and CMU we received 30,000 off from the 70,000 sticker price, but 40,000 is still unacceptable for our financial situation. Finally Stonybrook was the best at 10,000 net price and GeorgiaTech was also generous at 25,000 net price. Unfortunately I stupidly denied GeorgiaTech and I only hold deposits at CMU and Stonybrook now.
My parents appealed multiple times at CMU and Brown, and they basically said that’s the best they can do (nonsense, they are rich beyond belief).
It looks like we are in the disastrous position of not being poor enough to receive significant financial aid and not rich enough to pay for the schools on our own.
Sorry don’t know what NPC or HELOC is.
OK so basically grad school is free.
Clearly I am not a typical 17 year old. I couldn’t give a crap about cool gyms and “lazy rivers” (what’s that even mean?). I just want to study math, physics intensely amongst the best students and not bother with all the bs.
This situation is catastrophic.