Got accepted to dream college, got max scholarship, but cannot afford to go
Apologies in advance because I suck at writing, also long post
I've always been interested in art ever since I was a kid, and through my 4 years of high school I really worked hard, both academically and artistically. Won thousands in local competitions, 3.98 GPA, lots of volunteer activities, great portfolio, not a single art award I hadn't won, etc
Every professional and art teachers I've met told me that I'd have no problems getting accepted to any college. The problem is, my family's low-income (dad is a pastor + designer). After taxes we make about 48,000 a year (most art schools cost 40000 ~ 50000 a year)
I really worked hard to be able to go to a good college to study computer animation. Recently I got results back from 3 colleges, all of which are among the top 20 animation schools in the US. Two of them gave me scholarship, but only about 10,000 a year, which is apparently their "max scholarship"
One of the colleges, which is in NY and is my dream school, also contacted me and told me I had won two scholarships. I was really happy until I saw that the one bigger scholarship cancels out the smaller one. (15000 a year canceled out the 12500 a year scholarship) I really thought I would be able to afford that college, but it turns out I won't be able to
Even with financial aid I'd still have to pay over 20000 every year and that just isn't possible for my family
I have no idea what I would do in the future if I can't afford to go to the colleges I want. I'm feeling really stuck and frustrated and wondering if I worked my ass off during high school for this
Thanks for reading my rant
Posted Feb 25, 2016, 12:57 AM UTC