Hello. I am an upcoming senior from Washington state. I go to a small high school with about 400 students. I have a 3.7 GPA and have taken several challenging courses. I am still waiting on my ACT score so let’s just assume I scored around average just to keep things simple (felt good about it, most likely scored much higher than average). Anyways, I am a hispanic and the annual income that my family receives is around $50,000. Because of this reason, my biggest concern is paying for college. My big dream is to get a bachelors degree in business administration, and then go into law school. I have full support from my parents, but I recognize they don’t make so much money and I don’t want to take most of it from them. I am the oldest of 4 so they still have 3 more kids to raise. I also don’t want to drown myself in student loans. Should I just go to community college, do what I can, and then do everything I can to give my future kids the opportunity to go to a university, or is there a cheaper way in which I can accomplish my dream without having to pay so much.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, it means a lot.
You should run the Net Price Calculator for schools that you are considering. You will probably need help from your parents to do this. You might want to start with your in-state public schools, but I am sure that there are many other schools that are worth considering. My understanding is that you qualify for WUE schools, but I don’t know much about them (we live a very long way east of you).
I expect that you will find some schools that are affordable with significant need based financial aid. It might take some looking around to do so.
A GPA of 3.7 is well above average. With a similarly higher than average ACT, there will be a good number of colleges which will not only accept you, but will also help you financially.
You have some excellent public universities, including Central Washington and Western Washington. You have excellent private colleges, like The University of Puget Sound, for which you may end up paying very little (check out their NPC calculator).
Based on your GPA and assuming that your ACT is also good, you could very well be able to attend a great four year college with very minimal debt.
With your background, if your ACT is high enough (like 35+) you should apply to top private schools (Ivies, LACs) and if they accept you, you might have a great chance to get full-ride scholarship/financial aid.
If your parents don’t make a ton of money, you may get need-based financial aid. To see what that might be, as @DadTwoGirls says, have them run the Net Price Calculators for some state schools and see what they think your parents should pay.