How in the world do people pay 55k/year?

<p>Don’t crap a brick… Whatever school you apply to will give you a sufficient amount of aid. The sad part is, if you’re applying to schools they expect that both parents are going to pay (regardless of marital status). For some schools (like Harvard, Princeton… Smith) you fill out a Fafsa and a CSS profile. My mom has two houses and a similar salary and some of my schools asked about this. Once an explanation was given, all except one school realized that I was in need for aid. Right now I only have to find a quarter of the tuition. Make sure you explain your circumstances. I know on some supplements they ask for this.</p>

<p>Scholarships may work, but I found out at my school (and other private schools) they reduce your aid by the amount of scholarship you receive. Find out if this applies to any of your schools, in reality it’s a good thing because they replace the loans in your package with your scholarship money, but the numbers don’t change. Still apply for scholarships though, you can’t pay for college on your own like that (I don’t get why some parents won’t help their kids with tuition payments).</p>

<p>As I said, don’t worry-- Just explain your circumstance…</p>