<p>St Olaf’s published cost of attendance is $51,860. People have asked, and I don’t think you’ve replied (which is your prerogative) whether you are getting merit aid or need-based aid to bring the price down by over $40K. I don’t see any huge scholarships on St Olaf’s pages, so I (and maybe others) are assuming (yeah @$$ - u - me) that it’s very generous need-based aid. And then wondering if you have that much need, why is your local state still costing you 12K since you ought to be eligible for federal and state aid that would apply at the state school as well. You are under no obligation to explain, but people here will try to figure things like that out in order to help others who come to this thread understand what they might realistically expect in their own college search. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what your original question is, really. As you’ve obviously seen for yourself, there are ways of getting the sticker price down. Most middle class families do not pay sticker price for pricey private or OOS public schools – as you’ve suggested by asking the question, it’s impossible to afford. They pay for college first and foremost by finding options they <em>can</em> afford, which are out there for most students if they know where and how to look.</p>