What are some colleges that have tuition reduction programs for Illinois residents besides those participating in msep?
Added more info to title for more responses
ED
Tell us a lot more about you and your interests and your parents financial situation. It’s the only way to get accurate advise. So what’s your unweighted vs weighted GPA. I am from Chicago so do you live in the city or suburbs (you might have opportunities going to CPS).
Make sure your parents get educated by your counselor. Didn’t your school do something to help you and your parents about college?
I think you have to figure ballpark $10-$12K for room and board. So if your max budget is $15K, I think you’re talking about staying home and commuting-- but then you’ll have to factor in the cost of a car.
If you add in the $5K you can borrow from the federal government you could probably consider any state university in IL.
The other thing to add as you look, check out The Midwest Student Exchange program. That can open up some out of state options for students while keeping it affordable. Two of the schools my D is looking at are part of the program which is why they are on the list of potential options for us. Not every school is going to participate but there are some good ones depending on what you want to major in.
I believe Utah allows instate residency after the first year…and it’s not all that costly to begin with.
Your costs might be under $15,000 a year at University of New Mexico @WayOutWestMom is that possible.
University of Alabama would be about that with your stats.
University of Alabama Huntsville would be another choice.
I am interested in becoming a high school math teacher. My parents have no money saved up (we hit some pretty hard times) however as of right now we are going good financially, so I don’t believe we will get any substantial help from the government. I live in the suburbs of Chicago and the school I go to does not do much to help educate students or parents.
@dcolosi what are some colleges that partake in the program?
Pretty easy to find via google.
Seems like everyone from the Chicago burbs is going to Alabama. Great merit. Students that would never see their selves there are loving it.
Math teacher… Grades unweighted? Look at Illinois State University. It seems… Most of the teachers in Illinois seem to get their degree here. Must be a reason why.
UNM has the Amigo Scholarship program that gives in-state costs to OOS student who meet the academic criteria. (23 ACT (1130 SAT) and 3.5 Unit GPA or 26 ACT (1230 SAT*) and 3.0 Unit GPA)
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
Instate tuition & fees is $7,354/year
Room & board is $9,864/year
Total = $17,218/year
There are additional higher $$$ scholarships for students with higher academic credentials, up to a full ride (tuition, fees, room & board, books, computer) for high achieving students. (Regents requires a 31 ACT (1390 SAT) and 3.9 Unit GPA to apply.)
I second the MSEP schools. Take a look at U Minnesota-Morris and Truman State in particular, two of the relatively few public liberal arts colleges in the US.
Truman State is closer to a university in size (~6000 undergrads), but both are far smaller than most flagship public universities.
@chri55555 there are quite a few. If you do a search for Midwest Exchange Program then you can put in your home state, type of degree and then do the search. It will give you a list of all the schools that participate and then you can see more of the details. A lot of the schools do seem to be smaller or regional campuses for schools but there are still some good ones on the list.
If you’re hoping to teach, i would suggest staying instate. That means you could graduate with state certification.
An extra plus, staying near home-- or where you hope to teach-- means you could network as you do all those observations and eventually student teaching.
1° calculate your EFC
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/estimate
Report the information you got (EFC, Pell if any) below.
2° can your parents contribute anything at all? Is “15,000” what you expect to be able to pay with parents’ contribution+job+federal loans, or have your parents mentioned that amount?
3° do you have a job? if you don’t, could you get one?
4° Run the NPC on the following colleges: Macalester, St Olaf, Grinnell, Drake, Butler, Augustana (IL), Beloit, ISU, UIUC, DePaul, Loyola, Lake Forest. Indicate NET COST result for each, below.
5° Will you be retaking the SAT or taking the ACT? Will you take subject tests (in your two strongest subjects)?
More advice is sure to come once we have more details. 
University of Maine
Schools known for offering generous merit that draw large numbers of Illinois residents at instate tuition prices include Miami Ohio and Iowa state, pretty automatic for combinations of GPA 3.4+ and ACT 31+.
If you have good grades & test scores, you can sidestep some of the limitations regarding majors there might be in the MSEP, so check out schools like Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, & Iowa State aside from the MSEP. Outside the midwest, significant reductions via scholarships &/or out-of-state tuition waivers: Alabama, Florida State, Oklahoma, Ok. State, Mississippi, Texas Tech, West Va., South Florida, Florida International, Kentucky, Miss. State.
To @MYOS1634 List I would recommend adding UIC, UIS, Northeastern Illinois University, and NIU. Also, with that SAT you may have a good chance of getting merit aid at Knox College, so perhaps add that one to the LAC list.
Your scores are good so you might be able to get some merit aid. I think you are saying that family income is too high for financial aid-? (Some schools give aid for incomes as high as $150k).
If your family income is above $150k, then I think a state university or college is a good way to go. But merit aid may also be possible at privates.
My family makes around 100k a year and the 15000 is a combination of parents/ job. Thank you all for the responses. I will need to check out all of those colleges!