<prompt> Human: Edit: Alright ladies and gentlemen, youve spoken and it is determined my problems are not on equal footing with most. Fair point. Sorry if we seem ungrateful or something for the fortunate financial situation that were in. We certainly are not. A couple of clarifying statements for those late to the party... 1 My wife and I are out of college and employed only 7 years ago. Before that it was school loans ourselves, grad school, partfull time jobs and living on cheapest food we could buy, sometimes foodstamps. With our daughters problems popping up soon after we got jobs, we had little time to save for her college. What we did manage to save, we drained for her therapeutic boarding school. 2 Im not trying to complain so much as stating Im surprised she is completely ineligible for any subsidized loans and wondering if I missed something. 3 Yes, the 100k is not the real number, just the threshold we were told we would have to meet before any subsidized loans were available. That was surprising, I guess because when I got loans, I didnt have any problems and my parents werent that bad off. 4 Feel free to tell me Im an asshole for not saving earlier or appearing to complain when I make a much as I do. You have every right. Sorry for seeming ungrateful, spoiled, entitled, etc. and for asking for advice. Thanks to those of you who have provided some. Original post:So the short story. My wife and I both work. Combined before taxes, we make 270K a year, gross. We have an 18 year old daughter who is planning on college starting next fall. After filling out the FAFSA, we were told that as parents, were expected to be able to provide 100K per year to our daughters college. I just heard this figure this morning and am freaking out a bit. This doesnt mean her college costs this much, in fact its less than half that, but this means she is not eligible for any financial aid, subsidized loans or work-study plans. 100K a year, that hit me like a ton of bricks. So, if I understand this correctly, the government is telling me 1 were expected to be able to pay over 13 of our GROSS income to our daughters education for a minimum of four years again, a slight overstatement in our case, 2 we as parents are expected to take out unsubsidized loans, or 3 my daughter is expected to take out unsubsidized loans, right? I cant think of a fourth option. A little side story to give you some personal background. My daughter went through a very rough time through most of her teens. Shes actually my step-daughter, and up until three years ago, her sperm donor of a father was having a fairly powerful and terrible influence on her life. She spiraled out of control, into drugs, alcohol, unprotected sex with multiple partners, self harm, extreme impulse behavior, and almost didnt survive the fall. When we finally realized the extent of the issues teenagers really hide this well!, we took immediate action. This eventually materialized into therapeutic boarding school for 15 months. We were making less then, but not by a huge amount. Still, there was no way we could afford it without loans. We had enough in our 401k to take loans on it. We ended up paying 105k in 15 months for this school. On a personal side note, worth every penny, our daughter would agree too. She made a miraculous turn around, learned a lot about her triggers, her fathers influence, and has been diligent with her recovery ever since. Anyway, we still owe 30K from this. As part of our family agreement, our daughter was now on the hook for all her college education. This may seem harsh, but its a long, drawn out discussion around enabling addiction and learning to take responsibility for your actions. At this point, weve softened on the point of forcing her to take the full cost of college, but still want her to cover a good bit of it for the reasons listed. Anyway, I guess the point of all of this is, if we struggled to pay 105k over a 15 month period, how in the world is a family expected to pay over a 13 of there gross income on one childs education??? Did this just turn into a sob story with no real point? I guess I feel like we must be missing something regarding how to afford such a huge financial burden. Is our college system in the US this far out of whack that my daughter is eligible for NOTHING minus scholarships of course, which she applied to many, but it wont be anywhere close to the covering all the costs? Sorry for the life story, any advice would really help, Im feeling lost on how to help her succeed in college financially while remaining stable and getting out with a future ahead of her.  <response>: Yes, this is a sob story and not really a question. You just want everyone to pat you on the back and agree with you. The average family would be thrilled to have 170kyear, which would leave more than enough to pay for college. Post your budget and expenses. 