To learn what a lazy river is, type Texas Tech lazy river. (due to Texas heat it may not be as unnecessary as we may think, but it’s still a resort amenity.)
I agree NYU was especially egregious. But that’s NYU… They probably thought you’d pay.
UC’s don’t give financial aid to oos students. It’s very clear on all financial aid pages.
You may have gotten Regents if you’d applied to UCSB CCS (it’s a special program like a grad school for undergrads in a few specialties, including math). But I don’t thinkbit’d have made such a big difference in costs.
If your parents have been unemployed for six years and you’re still not eligible for much financial aid, they must have had incredible investments and assets - arent’they willing to sell some stock for your studies ? How have you even survived with no income for six years? Do you have a house your parents can take a HELOC on or have they used it up? Are they looking for a job and expecting one? Are you currently working anywhere to help fund your studies?
You can run the NPC on colleges to see which ones won’t cost too much.
(NPC 's are supposed to be run before you apply to any college. Most colleges weight assets differently and it’s crucial to run them before you apply if you’re living off assets. To give you an example, run the NPC on Princeton, Yale , and Brown. You’ll see how running the NPC would have prevented costly mistakes.)
In particular, run the NPC on HarveyMudd and Northwestern, which have accelerated tracks for math and would be interested in an IMO competitor.
Why did you turn down Georgia Tech? Does the reason still hold or would you consider them? You could write to them now and explain you made a mistake in turning them down, you thought 25k would have been too much for your parents since they’re unemployed but in fact they’re willing to pay that but of course now that you know that, deadlines have passed for weeks- would they be willing to give you a second chance after you spend a gap year in France? You could even apply Ed (or equivalent). And of course apply for the scholarships available, deadline October 15.
What job do you have right now? How much have you saved?