<p>I don’t follow what you mean by feeling cheated. By whom, and how?</p>
<p>Sorry about that - it was a QuestBridge reference. I thought we were supposed to receive a full ride, but that’s not the case. I shouldn’t say I feel cheated, but rather mislead and possibly due to my own bad research. Stanford financial aid would lead me to believe the same. See, I make about $6000 per year and student assets are very heavily considered. That’s fine, but applying through QB was supposed to - to my obviously incorrect understanding - negate that, considering I’m paying the bills. If Stanford doesn’t reduce my student contribution in the official package, I could owe them as much as $1000 on top of trying to buy books and plane tickets, much less the other stuff I need and want.</p>
<p>I do not mean to interrupt this debate, but I feel I must agree with zenkoan on this matter. The financial aspect of Stanford does not look too promising for my family at the moment and truthfully it is rather unnerving to hear complaints about 30K+ financial aid awards (although I am not referring you directly applicannot). For my family, yes we are in a (quasi-upper) middle class bracket, but we’re still under financial strain, living pay check to pay check. It’s hard, and as zenkoan implies other admits with higher incomes can understand Stanford’s dedication to socioeconomic diversity and acknowledge the reality that their special circumstances cannot supersede those of admits with significantly lower incomes. On a different note, I honestly hope the financial situation comes through for you. Maybe you should consider applying for smaller and local scholarships as to boost the amount of “free” student money you can contribute.</p>
<p>I guess you may be feeling more worried about making it work than annoyed, then. Can Questbridge applicants seek other scholarship sources to cover a relatively small gap like this?</p>
<p>I’m looking at small scholarships, definitely - essays are pretty easy to write and honestly, I live in an area that is not the least bit competitive. On the other hand, zosudettai, well, you actually reaffirmed my point - we’re on the same page. It doesn’t matter what the dollar amount is - $1000 or $50,000 - both of us are looking at a huge chunk of our income, which is otherwise entangled, going toward the college office. I don’t think having to pay for college is bad at all, but we’re both suffering from a case of unmet expectations - you, a high EFC, me, an amount I can’t and expected not to pay. And yeah - I’m far more worried than I am annoyed. There’s no point in being annoyed; what’s done is done, I just need to find a way to make it work. We don’t qualify for a private loan and Stafford loans aren’t dispersed until the first day of the term, so I’ll probably have to take out twice as much in loans to pay for needs this summer, my bill, and credit card interest (I don’t have any cash flow in the summer).</p>