| Dad II,
I don't mean to be disrespectful but you are sacrificing your relationship with your child because of $. I may sound drastic but I honestly think you need to go to a counselor to learn to step back. Your daughter's ACT score is excellent. Her SAT IIs are excellent. You *should* be proud of her. Instead, you are sending her the CLEAR message that she doesn't measure up. Growing up with that message could have serious repurcusions on her life. You are hurting her but you don't see it.
As far as college and $... The EFC is not from current income. There is an assumption that you have saved for college. That sort of generalizes that your income this last year has been your income for some time, that you have employment benefits (health insurance, etc)-- and I think that generalization is a major flaw in the system. So you have some culpability here-- not just for figuring out your EFC wrong, but for not saving if, indeed, that was an option.
One other idea... I don't know where your daughter is applying, but if she is in the top 75% of many of the colleges where she is applying, it is possible that they will give her a better financial aid package (replacing loans with grants) or give her a merit-based award. Find out if she could become an RA after first year; that would reduce housing costs. There may be other ideas but you need to try to *problem solve* and not just blow up at her. You are allies. |