<p>I live in a upper middle class family that takes in a lot of income but has to spread it amongst three other kids going to college. This makes it pretty hard to get financial aid I assume. </p>
<p>My question is, do most colleges charge the $40,000 said on their websites, or are there grants and other forms of aid that limit the impact</p>
<p>Run your financial stats on Princeton's FA calculator, to get a general idea how much they will give you. It is indicative for any top 20 private.</p>
<p>There also are many colleges that are generous with merit aid. Examine the financial aid and merit scholarship info on the websites of colleges that interest you.</p>
<p>I'm in the same situation in which my parents will only pay $20,000 max. per year, but I'm applying to all big expensive private schools. </p>
<p>There's something called merit scholarships and financial aid policies (depends on how much your upper middle class family income is specifically though, $180,000 is usually the reasonable limit for the best aid). For many people, attending Harvard or Yale is a lotttttt easier on the Wallet than attending community college or their local state school. Prob. not in your case, but my family is expecting with a family income of around $150,000 to pay only $15k-$20k per year for a top private school with good financial policies, or big merit scholarships at lower tier privates.</p>
<p>will your parents co-sign a loan for you? In addition to federal loans not related to income, private lenders will provide you with a loan if you have a co-signer. Coupled with Merit awards, you may be ok.</p>
<p>college is a 4-yr proposition. You may have two siblings in college when you start, but none in your last year or two. It is really hard to get a handle on projecting college costs for one year, let along 4 years, but considering your investment it makes sense to dig into the numbers. The real work comes next spring after you have received your acceptances and FA packages from the schools. At that point you will be working with real numbers and can make better guestimates about years 2-4. For now, all you really need to know is, is it worth applying. For that, the loan calculators should provide enough info. Given the present state of the economy, make sure you have at least 2 financial safety schools.</p>
<p>We are paying about $20K for our son's $47K COA. He got a $10K merit award, $5K outside scholarship, $5K in loans, $5K from his savings and summer work, and is working to earn the rest.</p>