There is something called a Net Price Calculator on every college website. It gives you an estimate of what your costs will be based on your stats and your family income.
It is more accurate if your biological parents are still married to each other, and if they hold traditional employment. Self-employment, family businesses, or a parent recently laid off will not generate as accurate an estimate. If your parents are divorced and remarried, it gets really tricky.
Run the numbers on each college, then sit down with your parents for a money talk. You need to ask them if they can afford the yearly costs. Plus there will be transportation costs to travel to college and back throughout your college years.
Just because you might have knowledge of their income, or they have told you growing up that they will pay for college, do not assume there are no limits.
You might have younger siblings, aging grandparents, uncertainty with a parent’s job security, or other factors like wanting to save money to pay for your grad school or med school that will cause your parents to limit their willingness to pay an unlimited amount for your college education.
Then there is reason that comes into play. Will parents really pay $70,000 a year for NYU when you can attend another school for much less cost?
What you do not want is to arrive at Decision Time next April and find out you do not want to attend your Safety School and your parents balk at the last minute and refuse to pay $70,000/year.
Even worse than that is for your parents to be embarrassed about their lack of college funds, borrow tens of thousands of dollars for your freshman year, and then not be eligible to borrow funds for future years. That could leave you unable to finish your degree, but your parents still get stuck with huge loans.
So please listen to the parents here. We are not just digging to get you to tell us personal information. We have read many threads of heartbroken students who thought they were okay to pursue certain colleges, but at last minute parents confess they can not pay.
What we are asking you to tell us is something like this. “I ran the Net Price Calculator with my parents telling me the accurate income information. We looked at several colleges, and the yearly price they are comfortable paying is $X per year.”
Also ask if they have any other limitations or restrictions on which college you attend. We have heard of geographic limitations, no urban campuses for safety concerns, must be a religious school, or must live at home and commute.
We have been through this process with our kiddos, and are glad to share. We want to help guide you to the best fit college that is affordable for your family.