Yes, try both.
Owning rental properties is going to affect the EFC
It’s about 6% of assets after the protection allowance that is considered for FAFSA EFC. The major hit is on income. But few schools guarantee to meet the FAFSA EFC anyways. OP has some options with commuting to some in state public schools or getting a bit of merit from of them, that with loans and working over the summer and part time during the school year might just bring OP under the cost wire
@jym626 yeah that’s the big problem
@averageapp1852 - they consider these as assets and owning one’s own company.
The equity in those rental properties will be considered an asset for financial aid purposes…and the rents will be considered income. Both things will affect your need based aid potential.
And the net price calculators typically are NOT accurate for folks who own rental properties.
We’ll be able to help you better once we know your test scores.
The problem is clear, IMO. Student is going to have a EFC that is more than family and he, even with Direct Loans and work can pay. Private schools likely to expect even more of a contribution. Stats are not competitive for merit money at most schools
OP can attempt to raise test scores. Even then, it’s not going to be easy to get enough merit money for OP to go away to college. Room and board and other away expenses will be at least $15k, a min payable even with free tuition, which in itself is difficult to get.
I suggest looking for schools that just might have merit money, the less known schools and see if free tuition scholarships possible. Manhattan College, IIT, Iona College. Otherwise it’s commuting to a MAssachusetts directional state school
U of Maine will match your Mass tuition.
If i want to make my situation even worse… my closest state school is an hour and a half away driving 
I’ve been researching and thinking umass boston might be the best option with its new dorms and guaranteed 80% - 100% tuition for my stats but its lacking a community/ campus life, but if after i get all my offers back and still don’t have an affordable option it could work so that i’m not in crazy debt. I also plan to apply for lots of small independent scholarships and see what happens.
@twoinanddone oh that is interesting I will look into that, do you know which campus?
What about community colleges?
University of Maine main campus in Orono will charge you the same tuition (and probably fees) that UMass Amherst costs.
However, you definitely couldn’t commute to UMaine…so you would have room and board costs to cover…at least.
I am looking at a similar situation with a young cousin. Budget of about $10-15k and best outcome for him to go away to school. Which means free tuition is pretty much what he needs. Unfortunately, his state died not have the many small public colleges that yours does. In your case, especially if you can raise the test scores, it is possible to get some or all of your tuition covered which means it’s just room and board that you and your family have to work out.
I suggest looking at the Maritime Academy in MA. Some small Catholic schools. Talk to your GC. Look around for schools where there is chance of getting a free tuition scholarship. I don’t think you are going to get much financial aid. It’s merit you need to get.
SUNY Oswego OOS COA is just under $33,000 and they give merit scholarships to out of state residents.
@averageapp1852 it sounds like what you need to is to prep for the ACT (or SAT) as much as possible to get that score up into a range where you have more options for merit money. That’s the one thing you can use the summer to do. To go from a 29 to say a 33 will be hard but not impossible with a lot of prep. (That and to work on your essays).
Maine offers Ma students in state tuition I believe. Check that out, and do your best to get that SAT/ACT up.
@mamom University of Maine Orono offers to match tuition from UMass…but I’m guessing that would include UMass fees as well.
OP would need $10k in merit money to swing U of Maine or UMass Amherst. . The smaller Massachusetts state schools are less expensive (by about $5k) and the chances are a bit better that OP could get $5k in merit money from them. That’s where he should focus his attention.
Look into Truman State (you’d qualify for $8000 automatically, so tuition would be around $7000.
and South Dakota School of Mines & Technology–fairly low cost to begin with and you’d probably qualify for merit.