<p>Federal aid is very limited and will not provide a full ride to even an instate public university other than perhaps a community college. As sybbie stated, the maximum Pell grant is $5550 a year whether you go to a school that costs $10,000 a year or that costs $50,000 a year. The maximum direct student loan for a freshman is $5500. There are a couple of other small federal programs with limited funding, but they depend are not guaranteed and even if you got them they would not anywhere near bridge the gap between the $11,050 Pell grant/direct loan and a $40-55k COA. So it is not possible to receive a full ride based on *Federal *aid (except to a CC as previously stated).</p>
<p>Only a very few schools promise to meet full need. They are generally private schools and are the hardest schools to get into. </p>
<p>State schools do not generally promise to meet full need even for their instate students. An OOS is charged a higher tuition and is unlikely to get their need met.</p>
<p>You need to focus on schools that promise to meet full need and schools where your stats would make you eligible for generous merit scholarships.</p>