@austinmshauri @o2bdownsouth @schroengang @Sybylla @TomSrOfBoston As for an update, I reached out to my FA counselor that I was assigned at Swarthmore, and he said I have a very good case to waive the non-custodial parent’s information—plus apparently, my dad did not claim me as a dependent on his taxes nor am I under his health insurance—which only helps my case.
I was accepted to Davidson yesterday and they offered $35k in aid.
As for UChicago, I’d be willing to withdraw some loans. My grandparents are offering to pay for my room+board, so that takes another 10k off a year which leaves as at about 20k a year. I believe my 529 has about 40k in it, and then work-study could take off about another 2.5k a year which leaves me at about 30k over the course of four years which isn’t too bad. My mom said she can contribute about 5k a year given that’s how much she currently pays for my school tuition, and that brings me down to 10k in loans which isn’t too bad. In fact, if I worked every summer I could probably cover that and graduate with no debt.