i have a friend in a similar situation. When i was talking with her, I dont think she realized how little federal money is actually given to kids who are from low income families.
The feds pell grant is like around $6K a year on a sliding scale; and you have to be pretty low income to get that full amount. $6K or less where I live covers community college tuition, but not the full tuition of a state school; certainly no living costs.
the schools that meet needs are few and far in between; its hard to get into them; and from what we saw, the Net Price Calculator on their website showed a higher family expectation than what the federal EFC was. No easy answer to it all; but unless the stars really align, i don’t think living in poverty is the way for a kid to get $help for college. It’s just so hard to get into those colleges.