<p>My family isnt extremely rich, my parents make a little over 80k a year together.</p>
<p>About the max they'll be able to help is $8k-$10k a year</p>
<p>I don't think I'll be able to get many scholarships with my 3.4 gpa and 23 ACT</p>
<p>I really wanna go to a few oos and possible a private.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm in a similar situation. My parents make $80k a year and my efc was around $9500 (we don't have a ton of assets). I'm going to Brown which I didn't think I could afford, I got massive financial aid bc Brown meets 100% of financial need and in the end, I am paying only $9500 a year. So don't forget that many top privates completely meet financial need and the cost of attending these schools might be lower than that of a public school. Given my freshman financial aid package at Umich (I'm instate), I thought they fully met my need also but I realized that they only met my need with state scholarships and a small university scholarship (all of which would only last a year), so in the end Brown will be cheaper than Umich. Try some of the financial aid calculators to estimate your EFC, I know Princeton and Dartmouth have calculators on their websites.</p>
<p>Edit: I completely missed your stats which makes some of the top privates, statistically speaking, out of reach for you (not to say that you can't get in based on qualitative aspects of your app). So focus on schools within your reach that still offer merit aid or just stay instate.</p>
<p>first you need to identify how much in loans you are comfortable with.
I don't think that most students should take out more than $5,000 a year MAX
however- you can earn about $3,000 summers to pay toward tuition & you can earn about $2,000 or so depending on your job, during the school year to pay for books and personal expenses.
Im hoping you wont have to pay your own medical expenses
So with your parents contribution of $10,000, your own contributions of $3,000 from summer job & $5,000 education loan- and possibly ? in merit aid
You should be able to cover $18,000 or so education costs.</p>
<p>I would suggest to look at schools that participate in
<a href="http://www.mhec.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mhec.org/</a>
you may be able to find a program in a neighboring state for just a little more than staying instate</p>
<p>"Brown meets 100% of financial need"</p>
<p>that never includes the family contribution. I too am going to Brown but it's costing me about $6k a yr on top of the maxed federal loans. Costing me about $30k for two years plus health insurance. Thankfully there's money in higher up in my family. the whole "summer job" thing didnt apply to me since i have to pay bills (yes even in the summer).</p>
<p>They define need as
Cost of Attendance
(minus)
EFC</p>
<p>Need may be met, in part, by loans.</p>