I did everything I was told to do to make college affordable. I applied early. I filled out the FAFSA. I waited patiently. Still, my future felt crushed by an email labeled “congratulations.”
I received financial aid packages that asked my family to pay more than double my mother’s annual income. The offers expected me to find thousands of dollars that simply do not exist. They were presented as opportunities, but the numbers made attending these schools impossible.
What colleges call financial aid often includes more debt than actual support. While grants and scholarships appear in offer letters, much of the total package is made up of loans and expected family contributions. These calculations assume families can pay far more than they realistically can, or that students are willing to borrow large amounts of money without hesitation.
For many households, especially those supported by a single income, this does not reflect real financial conditions.
I am not the only student facing this problem. Students across the country, and around the world, are being accepted into colleges they cannot afford to attend.
One of my classmates, Chloe Guyer, described facing the same situation.
“It’s hard when attending your dream school doesn’t come down to whether or not you get in,” Guyer said. “It depends on whether or not you can afford it.”
Like many students, she received an acceptance letter followed by a financial aid package that left her family responsible for costs they could not reasonably pay.
Stories like Chloe’s point to a growing gap between how colleges describe themselves and how they operate. Universities promote accessibility and opportunity, but their pricing often tells a different story. When financial aid relies heavily on loans and unrealistic family contributions, access to higher education becomes tied more closely to income than achievement.
Questioning these offers may sound ungrateful, but numbers that are impossible to reach do not create opportunity.
College has turned from a path forward, into a privilege reserved for those only those who can afford it.