<p>I understand you’re not trying to be difficult. Nowhere in your responses have you come off as just trying to disagree with or aggravate me or something. I really do appreciate your advice (though I may be having difficulty coming to grasps with it), and the very fact that you’re even taking your time to respond is something I’m quite thankful for. It’s just that your spouting some pretty dangerous ideas (and the sheriff in my head doesn’t take kindly to such things 'round these parts).</p>
<p>As for my family income - from what I can tell we are “lower-middle class”. Free lunch (they actually changed their cut offs for free lunch and I now only qualify for “reduced cost” lunch but it’s not a huge deal), SAT/ACT fee waivers, um… stuff like that I guess. My mom doesn’t work so it’s on one source of income, so that’s about it…</p>
<p>As for my future, honestly I’m not sure what my career goal is concretely. Physics is an academic passion of mine and I hoped to pursue that with all I could. Though I have an attraction to medicine as well for when I grow up. I have not decided on whether to go forward with med school or to pursue a PhD in physics, but I hope that will clear up as I approach the time when I’ll have to make that decision (I’ll have more exposure to both fields by then).</p>
<p>The cautionary tale you seem to be conveying is indeed frightening. Does “my list” as it stands leave me open to such a trap of financial difficulty? If so, what other (schools) should I look into that would be more manageable? And is there a way to balance quality against cost in schools? With houses it’s a fairly simple idea to balance the cost against quality/locations to find the best value, but where could I look to find a good physics degree while avoiding the chance of dooming my future financial freedom?</p>
<p>[@Erin’s Dad I have looked at both of those threads in the past when looking into financial aid. I’m just not sure what schools to look at from there. In terms of physics, there are a limited few schools I’ve heard of that are good for it, and they don’t seem to be represented there. Am I really supposed to just blindly choose a school or three that will give me merit aid enough so that I can afford it, regardless of the programs at that school?]</p>