<p>The article is unclear about specifics. What does ‘helping out’ mean? Do the adult daughters and grandkids live with the family? Do the daughters have some kind of jobs, just not decent-paying? What about the 4th child who is also older than David? Independent, or not? </p>
<p>It is possible that David is the only dependent claimed on taxes, in which case the grant from Williams is actually generous.</p>
<p>It is not clear that the parents and son need to borrow ALL that money, though the author presents it that way, probably as a way to garner more attention. It’s likely they can pay part, and need to borrow part.</p>
<p>It must be that the ability to play football was an important part of final decision, though that is obscured in the article. Could be there was a better financial offer out there with no football. Or even a better offer with football (Grinnell?)</p>
<p>The idea of using UIUC as a financially attractive alternative is laughable. Though $28,000 difference over 4 years is not insignificant, it may not be enough of a reduction in price to pay easily. In states with flagship COA in low $20Ks, that is a natural alternative for upper middle class families. Illinois is not one of those states. </p>
<p>Football complicates matters, but the easy thing to do would have been to forget football and apply to Alabama and secure the full tuition scholarship or apply to some other school with large guaranteed merit. A bit of research would have revealed some D3 LACs that would let him play football and give generous merit. He could still have the personal attention, though not the rank. Too bad someone in the family wasn’t on CC or other forum or reading books about paying for college. The atmosphere surrounding college application process encourages magical thinking about money. One has to have a lot of financial savvy and strong will to resist it.</p>
<p>Football is time-consuming. David probably can’t manage a part-time job to help pay, at least during the school year.</p>