Should I go to the cheaper college or the one I want?

Why can’t your family help you out? Is it because they don’t make a lot of money, or because they have other financial obligations that get in the way of helping you?

Going to Rutgers or Stockton and trying to transfer is probably a bad idea. Transfers typically get poor financial aid.

For you, I would recommend either:

A) Go to Rutgers or Stockton. They are both good schools. If your family really can’t pay anything though, and you don’t qualify for aid, even these schools might be financially out of reach unless perhaps you commute. If you can’t afford these, community college is still an option, and Happymomof1 is right, you can most definitely go to med school from a community college. I personally think that would make for a pretty good story - from community college to becoming a doctor - certainly no one would ever doubt your work ethic. :stuck_out_tongue:

B) Try to find an OOS college where you can get a full ride, or pretty close to it. There’s a list of colleges on the Financial Aid forum that offer automatic full rides/full tuition to students who have a certain GPA and SAT or ACT score. Take a look, maybe you can find one where your stats put you in range for merit aid. If not, there’s always option A.