Not Looking Good

I called the U of MN financial aid office today to find out when the FAFSA gets processed by them, as it has already been processed by the government. They said they don't start processing them until at least the end of February. Once it has been processed, then we fill out more online forms, and then we don't find out about all of the aid available until July. How do we pay the $500 tuition deposit and sign the intent form if we don't know if we can pay for it?

The guy I talked to wasn't positive, but thought that any departmental grants or scholarships probably would have been in the acceptance packet. Darn!

Then, he told me that loans will probably be equal to tuition plus $8000 in living expenses. If they take our EFC into account, as well, then we will be short on tuition by a few thousand dollars, and will only make it through most of April '11 before we go broke. Then what? It's not like a summer internship will pay for another year of living expenses for our family. Aaron will have half an MBA, no job, and $34,000 in student loans. I just don't know how this can work. I want to make it work for Aaron. I want him to be happy. I don't want him to have to stay at Microboards. Someone give me some hope, please!