So I am a senior in high school here in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I decided that I wanted to go to college. So. Since about May, I've known that I really wanted to go to Penn (University of Pennsylvania right here in good ol' Philadelphia). So I decided, hey! I'll apply early decision. Early Decision, for those who may not know, means that you apply early (obviously), generally deadline is November 1 and the college gives you a decision by mid-December. Early Decision is binding, meaning you have to go there if you're accepted unless you apply for financial aid and it's not enough for you to attend (not to be confused with Early Action which means you just apply and it's not binding so you're not required to attend once accepted).
So, I sent in my application mid-October. I asked 2 teachers for recommendations (and due to some mail mix-ups, one didn't get there until about 10 days ago), sent my test scores, I had an interview, my parents filled out financial aid information, and on Tuesday, I received an email saying my decision would be available online at 3pm Friday (yesterday). So through a couple days' anticipation, yesterday afternoon finally came. I asked 6 of my closest friends to be there, 1 of which had detention and couldn't, but whatever. It ended up about 20 people crowding around the computer in the college guidance office. So, 3 o' clock comes 'round. F5 F5 F5 F5... LOG IN PAGE. So I logged in and lo and behold, I've been accepted into Penn! Cue celebration, right? You know, lots of hugs, my friends lifted me up and carried me down the hallway (I have weird friends), all great stuff. I come back into the office to thank my college guidance counselor and she looks at me and says, "You don't look very excited." And I was excited, it's just that... well, I went back and checked the financial aid they gave me. They gave me virtually nothing. Not nearly enough for me to go there. So I called a bunch of people, told lots of people that I got in and everyone was happy.
I went home, and today showed my dad the financial aid summary. He looked at it and told me exactly what I knew he would: that it wasn't enough. There was no way that my parents could afford to send me there with only that much.
So, what do I do? Conveniently and somewhat comfortingly, I have an ex girlfriend with whom I'm still good friends whose mom works there and said that generally if early decision accepted students call and you know, talk to the financial services people, and explain the case, they try to find a way to cover whatever difference there is. So on Monday, my dad is gonna call and see what he can do. But obviously that's not a sure thing. So what do I do if they don't give me any more? Penn is my top choice, I mean it's why I applied there ED. I really want to go there. I put a lot of work into applying there and I mean, I don't know what to do. Everyone else is much more excited about this than I am and I really can't enjoy it, because I mean, sure, it's a great accomplishment to get into an Ivy, but what good is it if I can't go there? It's really upsetting.
I don't know if anyone can help me, but maybe someone else has been in a similar situation. I'm willing to take out student loans and pay them back after college, but there's only so much I can take out. I mean it's just so much money and my family doesn't have the ability to pay it. I really want to go to Penn, but I also don't want to ask my parents to take on a burden I know is too much for them. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to anything and everything. In advance, I thank you for your help. This is really what I want to do and I'm willing to work for it and try to find a way to do it.
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Oh, college, how you do taunt me