<human>: Hey everyone,

My first time on this subreddit, but honestly I'm not sure where else to go. Here's why I'm here:

My girlfriend, now 23, was a child prodigy in singing, dancing, and acting (she was the lead in Cirque du Soleil's "Quidam" - here is a clip of her singing:  

She acted in a variety of shows in New York City, including Madison Sq Garden. She grew up, moved to NYC, pursued opera, theatre, and music. I met her dancing Tango in Central Park. We started dating. Then on May 5th of last year, she had her performance career stripped from her by a digestive disease called ulcerative colitis.
She lost a lot more after that. She couldn't pay rent, so she had to move out into an empty home her parents own in NJ. She spent most of the last year alone in that house (it's where we are both living now).

After encouragement, she applied and was accepted to Columbia University. I can't tell you how happy this made me, until we found out that it's financially impossible because:

After financial aid, she needs to take out a $60,000 parent plus loan.
She can't get one because her father is categorically against higher education (I won't explain in depth here).

She can't file taxes as an independent (and get more scholarship) because she needs to stay on her dad's insurance so that she can maintain any semblance of help.

Her finance officer told her to find $60,000 somewhere - impossible considering she can't have a job right now.

It is heartbreaking to see her get accepted to Columbia, then see her get basically NO help from the finance office or her parents. We are running out of options.

Please help us. Do any of you have any ideas on alternative ways we could finance her education, or get more in financial aid? Or even through the use of social media? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can you provide a brief overview of the text?
<bot>: girlfriend is a child prodigy, lost everything, got into Columbia, circumstances screwed her on financing. We need help. Let me know if you need proof: we're on Instagram - instagram.com/matthiasclock