<p>“I am a boy in texas, and I know I will need some/ a lot of financial aid. But schools in texas are out of the question; I am desperate to leave this place.”</p>
<p>The key question piece of information is just exactly how much aid you will need. Sit your parents (or whoever it is who is helping you pay for your education) down and run the FAFSA EFC calculator at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) Then find out whether they can meet that EFC or not. If they can meet it, how much higher than that can they go if the place you want gaps you for the aid. Talk about how much student debt they are willing for you to take on, and about just exactly how much money they expect you to make during your vacations and during the school year.</p>
<p>Then go read the threads on merit aid in the Financial Aid Forum, and take a look at these two older threads for strategies on finding merit aid:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>One last thing: try to find a way to like at least one of your home-state public institutions. Think of it as your “everything that could possibly go wrong did” option. Just like everyone else here, you need one of those on your list because all too often “everything that could possibly go wrong” actually does.</p>