<p>OP, you’ll only be able to take out loans of $5500 as a freshman.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if either of your sibs graduate before you, your need-based aid will likely be reduced. Have you run the NPCs with 2 in college and with one, to see what you can expect? I suppose you could take on an RA position to make up the shortfall, or work extra hours summers and other breaks, but it would be good to know in advance to plan for it. </p>
<p>Since you’ve done a lot of research, you may already know this, but it’s worth mentioning, just in case not- If you receive both merit and need-based aid, the merit takes the place of need-based, most often first taking the place of expected student loans and work-study, but then replacing grant aid. Erasing the loan and work-study requirements is useful, but many people are unpleasantly surprised to find their grant aid is reduced by merit. Various merit awards may or may not stack, but merit and need-based generally do not stack.</p>
<p>UAB has undergrad public health and is ranked well. You qualify for $15,000/yr automatic merit award there. Your annual cost would be about $12,000. If this is not a school you see yourself attending, you should find at least one school to apply to that is guaranteed affordable. Perhaps UMass-Amherst? Some of your other choices may turn out well, and I hope they do, but you need to have one that is certain.</p>
<p>Are your siblings at cheaper schools, or attending with large merit awards? If your parents together gross $180,000, while maintaining 2 households, then a combined EFC of 90,000 for the 3 of you is huge, unless they have a lot of assets. Or am I wrong? That sounds like an impossibly large sum of money to pay.</p>
<p>From what I read in the past I think the income level is way too high at unc to get any financial aid.</p>
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<p>Just for the record. Pepperdine is in Malibu, which is in Los Angeles County. Loyola Marymount is in Los Angeles, which also is in Los Angeles County.</p>
<p>More to the point, UCI is unlikely to give any aid to an OOS student. UNC Chapel Hill meets full need for all students but doesn’t admit many OOS students, and they’ll likely consider your parents’ combined income notwithstanding any private agreement your parents may have reached concerning how much they’re willing to pay; that probably puts you at zero-to-inadequate need-based FA. A similar logic applies to most schools, public and private, when it comes to need-based aid, though a few of the best-endowed schools, e.g., Harvard, would put you in a category where they’d expect your parents to contribute 10% of their combined income, which would make it affordable. For most schools offering need-based aid, however, the cut-off is more like $150K to $180K.</p>
<p>I think you need to compile a new list that starts with your state flagship, then adds schools that give substantial merit awards. There are many good schools that would be delighted to have a student with your outstanding stats who can also put $25K on the table.</p>