<p>Considering that I’m going to be in debt up to my eyebrows by the time I finish grad school, vossron, I am going to require some degree of merit aid. Given my family background, my parents aren’t capable of contributing all that much towards my education (although their income will essentially disqualify me from all financial aid at first glance). I don’t really feel comfortable taking out thousands and thousands upon dollars in debt just to finance my undergraduate education, and so to answer your question, there is absolutely no way that I would ever be able to attend any of the schools listed above without some capacity of scholarship aid. In fact, my parents have gone so far as to condemn me to a state school (granted, not necessarily the worst case scenario in CA) if I can’t get merit aid. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it certainly would be far less than ideal, though.</p>