If the NU financial aid offer included federal student loans (and info on Parent Plus) and work study, that would tell the OP they were treated as a US citizen. Likewise, if it did not include any of that, the OP can use that as part of the appeal as evidence they were misclassified.
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included federal loans
You want to go over everything with someone who knows what theyāre doing. Right now NW is expecting you to spend ~48% of total income on college expenses and while they may estimate cost of living in India makes it āpossibleā due to the differences in cost of living itās still odd.
Did your parents correctly estimate expenses for instance? Itās easy to forget what you spend on items you donāt buy regularly, or that only one person buys. They use this to estimate cost of living and how much disposable income your family has.
For instance, the fact your family own a second house is factored in - but can you get a loan on its equity in India and for how much? (In the US, you can get a loan based on your houseās equity but most other countries donāt do that so you need to have evidence whether India does it not, ie., whether this is a source of money for your family).
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Then they treated you as a US citizen.
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I think we can borrow a loan from second house, I donāt think that is feasible or financially desirable. We already have a loan to be paid and if I am not wrong, Northwestern promises no loan financial aid right?
We may have underestimated details of cost of living on CSS. Can I send them the excel, make a correction on CSS and then send them that back?
They will think you overestimate now, unless you have details/evidence. You canāt hurry.
If you can get a loan off your second house - not you thinking itās possible but actual bank or legal information that shows itās possible - then NW can request you do it. If itās possible, itās within their rights to have you prioritize college costs over investment.
No-loans means they donāt require you to take loans as part of their package but it doesnāt mean you canāt choose to take loans to cover the amount their financial aid package doesnāt cover.
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Is Reed affordable ?
Is Bama with merit ?
Insurance copies and credit card statements can suffice?
Waiting for reply.
You have a LOT of moving parts. You need to talk to the NU financial aid folks and have them explain how they arrived at your net cost.
Having a second piece of real estate is an asset. If there are rents, that is income. Itās the equity in your primary residence that matters.
My primary home has a market value of $140000. we have a mortgage of $75000
Aid Package Examples: Undergraduate Financial Aid - Northwestern University
I was going through some of the packages here and the difference is stark between mine and the examples here. For instance:
A student from Washington is the only member of her family in college. She has two younger brothers. Both of her parents are employed and together earn $105,500. They have $400,000 in home equity and another $10,000 in investments and savings.
Family circumstance
Total cost of attendance $87,804
Family Contribution $23,700
Financial need $64,104
You need to talk with a SPECIALIST not just the student employees answering the phones = send a message with documentation to your regional rep, with all relevant information, politely requesting a phone or video meeting so you can ask questions and see if thereās a problem with the documentsā¦?
If you have brothers and sisters that would be a situation similar to yours that you could ask to ask questions.
You absolutely need official statements about the value of that second house (you said $40,000) and the yearly amount in rent for 2023, 2024, expected for 2025ā¦?
Some amount of the asset (which varies depending on the college) would be considered usable for college. All of the rent would be considered income.
You really need a specialist who can go over the documents.
Rollins college is meeting my need. it is about $19000 per year. They only look at FAFSA
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I am preparing the documentation needed to do that. Once Christmas break is done, I will send the mail to both the financial aid office and the regional representative
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So you can afford $19k. Rollins is a fine school.
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Congratulations! 
Rollins is a good school. They probably included financial aid and merit.
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Yep