<p>BofP425, several kids in DD's class (the AP kids) visited UA preparing to hate it for a lot of the reasons that are concerning you, after all it is years 13-16 of SPS and Foley! They were pleasantly surprised. She's not home today, but PM her, and I'll let her know you are calling. I send you her screen name in a PM.</p>
<p>I don't think it's a great backup. There are much better state schools around. I think you are overrating MIT and Columbia, and they are certainly not worth 6 figure debt. The top 50 schools, if not the top 100, will challenge you and put you in good company. If you are a kind of person who thinks only those with similar stats will do for companions, then it won't matter where you go, no one will be good enough for you. If your EFC is 40k, then your family is very comfortably well off compared to 95%of of college bound. They just don't want to help you with college.</p>
<p>I agree. I love state schools, and they're are better out there. And I don't just mean the UM's and UVA's and UNC's of this world.</p>
<p>Birdofprey, I see this situation every year. Just because we are adults, does not make parents financially savvy. Many parents do not want to think about college costs, and rely on the old "it'll work out somehow". The fact that you are worried that the "somehow" is going to involve a staggering amount of debt on your head puts your financial maturity high on the meter. </p>
<p>You ask if it is worth it, and none of us can answer this for you. I don't know if it was worth for my husband and me to have taken out what was an enormous amount of debt for all kinds of education programs, and then go into even more for our children when we eschewed public school and allowed them to go pretty far into expensive ECs. </p>
<p>It is late to be applying for the best scholarships out there. Schools like Rice, Duke, Uof Ch, Wake Forest, Cal Tech, among others, have some pretty nice deals, but many needed to be completed much earlier. There are a number of schools still open with deals, but it is hard to say what is the best deal for you. As Cangel says, U of Alabama is really nothing to sniff at. These flagship schools often offer very sweet deals, and for the most motivated students an excellent education. It can set you up for a top graduate program should you want to continue. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is much at Columbia, and once the time comes to talk turkey, your parents may well cough up more funds than they are willing to promise at the moment. And if you start working weekends and vacations now, and double shift this summer, you can probably get a cool $10K together. Hard work, yes, but you are young and able. That and a matching $10K in loans, is steep, but doable. Hopefully Columbia kicks in $10 K , your parents pay $10 and borrow a matching $10K through Plus loans. That is a likely scenario that I seem to be seeing these days. </p>
<p>If things really seem to be overwhelming in the choices, a gap year might be an answer with a retake on the college admissions scene, and applying to some of the top goody programs this time around as well. I've known kids who have done this, particularly when parents suffer a job loss or some other financial disaster occurs, and it is clear that a $200k education is not feasible. With a better knowledge of what is out there and without the pressures of senior year, it is often a more financially fruitful endeavor.</p>
<p>I think you should consider UNC. It's relatively close to AL, and it's not too late to apply (deadline 1-15 online, 1-18 paper). You would almost definitely get in, and you stand a pretty good chance at the honors program, which I think would suit you. UNC has very good science programs. </p>
<p>Forget the Morehead (the deadline was 11-1), but you still have a chance at the Robertson (full ride to both Duke and UNC) and other scholarships.</p>