any advice? frustrated with the financial aid package

Colleges & Universities Northwestern University
1

<p>the package that NU offered me is at least $10,000 less than what other school offered me solely based on financial aid (not scholarship)
last year my dad’s income is $35,000 (my mom’s in china, noncustodial, and her income when transferring into dollars is a joke). northwestern expects my family to contribute $20,000, and this doesn’t even include various loans and work-study plan… we don’t have any real estate, and after eliminating tax and rental payments, there’s only around $15,000 left, the remaining money we still need to make a living on…</p>

<p>however, because of the major and the i-just-love-nu thing, I still risked my case and sent my deposit yesterday, hoping that they would consider my appeal and give me a more reasonable package. but today they basically told me they couldn’t.</p>

<p>so here’s the questions:

  1. how am I going to manage the tuitions of four years?
  2. is finding a financial aid counselor a good idea? (from collegetuitionsolutions.com for example)
  3. this year my dad’s income may be growing significantly since he just found a new job. but i’m not sure how long he’ll keep the job. in case he would make much more money this year, would my financial aid package get even worse?
  4. can i keep appealing?
  5. if all appeals fail, is graduating with $100,000 debt sounds like a good idea? (I know it’s not…but, if it’s so terrible, i may transfer to another cheap college, who knows)</p>

<p>thanks you guys! any input would be appreciated! :)</p>

2

<p>try another appeal-ask questions respectfully-they may interpret your financial picture in a different manner than you-and it may just require being persistant. Good Luck!</p>

3

<p>thank you APOL, i am going to do that, but not sure if i should do it immediately or throughout the year. and should I find a financial aid counselor ?</p>

4

<ol>
<li> Not sure, you haven’t posted enuf info for others to give a perspective.<br></li>
<li> No</li>
<li> Yes</li>
<li> Only if you have additional information to add to the file.</li>
<li> No, that much debt is a horrible idea.</li>
</ol>