My mom’s house is a ranch style and it feels bigger than one of my homes that’s about 100 sqft bigger. New homes feel very tight in space even though technically it sounds bigger. Not only that her house sits on a 7000 sqft lot while my home is 3500 sqft lot.
100 sq ft difference is not the same as 800 sq ft difference.
A two story home loses about 100 sq ft in stairs alone. Also, closet space differences can make one home seem bigger or smaller. Newer homes often have walk-in closets, which eat square footage.
That maybe, but my sister’s house is 300-400 sqft more and it doesn’t seem bigger either. She doesn’t have as much open space as my home. So one had to look at the floor plan.
The good news is that colleges don’t give a %^^* about your walk-in closets or your stairways or the size of your lot.
You guys can really turn anything into an argument.
nor do they care that you just couldn’t POSSIBLY live in a (shudder) starter home
But it doesn’t matter because OP’s father said the budget is $20k per year per kid. I think there might be wiggle room if OP finds an opportunity and pleads her case to the parents, but at this time that’s what she’s working with. It doesn’t matter if the family income is $60k or $1M, her college budget is $20k. AND she has a lot of options, so it’s all good news.
I don’t see any reason to condemn parents who are willing to pay full cost for a good in-state college like Indiana or Purdue, regardless of their income.
OTOH, it seems quite pointless to rationalize that they are somehow incapable of paying $60K/year for a fancy private. Uncomfortable, perhaps, but clearly possible.
And most importantly, none of this is particularly helpful to the student who came here for help. Perhaps the nuances of perceived versus actual square footage of homes could be discussed in the parent cafe.
I didn’t drag them in. I mentioned it that it’s not an opulent life style and the square footage was just to illustrate the point. But it’s typical CC thread that it gets derailed easily especially at night, posting before going to bed that kind of thing.
And California is a large state. Middle class for one area is not necessary middle class for another area.
Poor @Gigglebot3, who’s going to have to wade through pages of adults discussing house square footage instead of answering her legitimate question. 
Can we decide that, starting with post 130, NO ONE discussed something that’s off topic and is unrelated to OP’s question?
https://www.borenawards.org/boren_scholarship/basics.html
^^^ look into Boren scholarship
U Richmond gives merit aid. Tulane does too. But might not be enough.
If you have Alabama, IU and Temple as safeties, it’s fine to see what other schools you might like and see what they would offer you.
“And California is a large state. Middle class for one area is not necessary middle class for another area.”
Translation - I’ve upped my standards and feel that an upper middle class life is middle class.
Post #133, you didn’t read post #130.
I get it that you are proud of your high moral ground that you stay in your starter home so you can pay outrageous price for private schools. I get it but I have decided that you have dragged me in this thread more than I care to respond. I think you are being very rude to OP. Are you ill or something?
No more comment on this thread from me.
I think OP has some great choices. And if she takes only the $5500 loan she can do alone, there will be more choices with merit schools!
Have you had any luck OP, or did we lose you?
Sorry for the late response, it´s been a crazy week! Thank you so much for all your help. For those who asked, yes, the $20k is including the college plan. I have really started to like Alabama and I am going to visit in October. I looked into Temple, too, but I don´t think I would be a good fit there. My parents are still encouraging me to apply to the some schools that I don´t believe I´ĺl get much merit aid (GWU, in particular) with the affirmation that they will look into it and see what they can do when it comes to the time when we are finding out for sure about scholarships and cost. I have also applied to Ohio State because they have some really good scholarships that I could get, and I would probably go there over Alabama. I still cannot believe I had so much helpful advice, thank you so much CCers!
gigglebot3 
Thanks for checking back. Hey, if your parents are encouraging you to apply to places that they know might be beyond that $20K then go for it! I’m guessing they are starting to understand how limiting $20K can be.
You’re right that GWU is unlikely to be affordable - they’re one of the most expensive schools in the country. However, you may get more merit at American and it’s still quite an excellent university.
Does GWU offer merit also?