Question

Parker was able to pay for 44% of his college tuition with his scholarship.

Answer 1

The total cost is $17,955.

Let x be the total amount of his tuition.  He paid for 44% of it, or 0.44, with his scholarship. This leaves 100%-44% = 56% = 0.56 of it to be taken care of with loans.  We know he took out 10054.52 in loans:

0.56x = 10054.52

Divide both sides by 0.56:
0.56x/0.56 = 10054.52/0.56
x = 17954.50 ≈ 17955