[charliepinglass]

You can't borrow enough to pay for tuition at many schools using federal loans as an undergraduate student. Stafford loans have a maximum borrowing limit of $12,500 per year, and 4% of that goes to origination fees, leaving $12,000 for tuition, less if you're a freshman or sophomore:

http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized...

That's not enough for many state schools, and definitely not enough for private schools:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-gradu...

The only way to get private loans is to have a creditworthy cosigner. Otherwise, you need parents to take out Parent PLUS loans to cover the remainder.

I assume the person here was paying for tuition with a combination of school-provided need-based grants and Stafford loans. Now that the need-based aid has been cut because her Expected Family Contribution has gone up due to her paid internship, she can no longer get enough money to pay the full tuition.

[mchannon]

There are also dozens of scholarship programs that, when I was in college, I didn't qualify for because I didn't look like the OP. A lot of them are only for upperclassmen, and a lot of them are only for STEM disciplines.

It may be too late to apply and get such things but I didn't read of any effort to track those down. Finding scholarships, even qty 10 of $500 apiece requiring 3 hours' work each, should be easier with this backstory than any other I've ever read.