I’m surprised that OP knows alumni in similar financial circumstances who paid less than $2000 a year to go to UVM. (Are they also out of state?) I just ran the UVM NPC based on the info in this thread and it gives a cost of $30,000 a year, after federal money of about $7K and UVM money of about $14K.
If OP can get the cost of UVM down to at most $10K with scholarships and grants, it could be doable with loans and summer work. But at $30K or even $20K, UVM is not an option.