I'm an Admission Counselor at a university, and do financial aid meetings with students. Please, DO NOT be afraid to talk with the school about options. I know not all colleges have the capability of talking with students, but if you're looking in the 28K range of a gap, I'm assuming your daughter is looking at a private school. Reach out and talk with someone either in Admissions (someone manages her application/account, find out who it is), or the Financial Aid office. And have a realistic talk with your daughter about money. Those are the worst conversations, when the kid has no concept of what $1000 even looks like, let alone $28K. That's literally buying a new car each year. You could own a $100, 000 house by the end of 4 years. Etc. Be firm on what it means to get into that type of debt, no matter the school. See if what she wants to study could be at a more affordable option. How can she cut costs, how can she contribute to her education? There are so many factors, but even being on this side of things in higher ed, 28K is too big of a gap if the family couldn't pay at least half of that or more out of pocket.