Hi! I’m a rising junior in high school and I’m searching for colleges. I want to major in international relations or global health or vice versa. I’m also considering a minor in art or design. My parents can’t help me pay for college and I want to graduate with as little debt as possible, so if any of you have reccomendations of schools I should apply to let me know please! So far I’m considering schools like UGA, University of Washington, UMich, UCSD, Pepperdine, PLNU, Brown, Duke, Northeastern, BU, PLNU, Yale, Georgia State, SDSU, GA Tech USC, etc. I’m looking to narrow the list down and am open to suggestions. I am drawn to large, selective public out of state schools but they tend not to give much financial aid to out of state students (I live in GA). In a school I’m looking for a diverse student population, an artsy community, lots of extracurricular opportunities, Christian school or Christian organizations, strong international relations or global health majors/minors, a beautiful campus (maybe even near a beach), and probably the most important- cost, merit aid, financial aid, etc. I know a lot of top colleges offer decent financial aid, however my family’s income (which is around 85K/yr) will go up once I’m in college due to one of my parents starting a new careeer path however that income won’t go towards my college education but towards my parents retirement (that they’re very behind on due to us having a low income for so many years). Thank you so much!!
Also for my background as an applicant: I take all AP or honors, as of right now my unweighted GPA is about a 3.9. I’ve only taken one AP it was AP world this year (10th) but junior year I’m taking 4 AP’s and one honors. I haven’t taken the ACT yet, but I will soon. My extracurriculars are decent, I’ll be the vice president of a volunteering club this year that I’ve been in since freshman year, I’ve been involved in art classes the past 2 years and won an award for it, I dance (1 class a week), I’m joining model UN this year, I’ve done VBS each year, and I do ELI which is a Christian leadership organization that trains high schoolers and then we serve at grow day camps as counselors. I’m super passionate about volunteering, kids, and issues the world faces so I think my essays will be pretty strong.
Well done for thinking ahead. At this point, treat the process like shopping for clothes at a vintage shop: you have to keep trying things on and thinking about how it fits. Don’t get fixed on any one college either- you will be surprised by how much you change over the coming year. One of my collegekids had a definite list of colleges sorted by spring of Junior year, including an ED choice. Just 6 months later she applied ED to a school that hadn’t even been on her list in the spring! So, leave yourself room to change and grow.
Now the bad news: if your parents won’t help at all with college costs, and the family income will go up this year, you will have to put all of your (long!) wish list above to one side, and start with what you can afford. Again: good for you for looking ahead. You can only borrow $5-6K / year in your own name for college. Most colleges who give you financial aid will expect you to earn some money over the summer, and many will also want you to work on campus during the school year- and that money will be counted as part of your financial aid.
There will be two ways for you to get the big money for tuition / room & board: financial aid and merit aid. Financial aid will depend on your parents income. I’m trusting that some of the posters who are better at finaid than I am will weigh in.
For merit aid, there are two paths: a relatively small number of big-deal scholarships (such as Robertson, Stamps, etc) and colleges that want your stats (such as UA-Huntsville). So, study for the SAT this summer, both to try and get National Merit when you take the PSAT this fall and to get the kind of score that colleges will pay for. Tbh, the Hope Scholarship is likely to be your best bet.
Good luck 
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond
Give yourself a big pat on the back for being organized so early and for understanding and accepting your financial situation!
If you really need to go for free (or for a total of about $25k, which is all a student is allowed to borrow for 4 years) with no help from parents, then your options are limited. The full needs met schools on your list (Brown, Duke, Yale, etc.) will likely offer you free tuition at your parents income level, but you’d need to pay room and board, books, fees, etc. which is way more than you can borrow.
As @collegemom3717 said, merit is your best hope at a free ride. If I were you I would study as hard as I possibly could for the PSAT, which is much more important for free rides than the SAT. If you can pull off a fabulous score and get National Merit Finalist status (Georgia is a one of the tougher states, but still easier than NJ,CA,MD, etc) then you are guaranteed a full ride to schools like Central Florida, UT Dallas, North Texas, and many others.
Another path is look at a school like Berea, which is free to attend in return for some work hours while you are there and the hope that you will contribute to the school from your future income.
Berea is only open to students from low income homes.
I agree with the recommendation to practice for the PSAT/SAT. Do well there and many merit options are available.
If you are not a California resident, the UC’s or Cal States (SDSU) will offer little to no financial aid as an OOS applicant so you would be looking at $40K/year for SDSU and $65K/year for UCSD. Merit aid is very limited so if you are targeting California, look at the Private universities like Pepperdine, USC etc… but you will need top grades and test scores.
Thank you!
By “Christian” do you mean any Christian, or do you mean only Protestant? There are a number of schools that meet your criteria but are, at least nominally, Catholic.
I’m Protestant, but I’d be fine with a Catholic school! So any Christian is fine. Also, I’m fine if the school has no religious affiliation I’m just looking for a chance to get involved with Christian organizations on campus! So far, the only ones I’m looking at are PLNU, Pepperdine and DePaul.