What should I do? What can I do?

I’ll try to make a long story short. I’m a college freshman who’s attending community college for two years then transferring to a four-year university. I graduated high school with a 3.13.

Last year (My first semester) I managed to get a 3.8. I’m trying to maintain that, if not increase it by the time I’m ready to transfer. If all goes well, I should be in a four-year university in Fall 2020.

Only one of my parents work. I wanna say their average income is about $40K-$50K. I’m the only child out of my siblings who will be in college in the next 4 years. I really wanna go out of state but I definitely understand if I have to stay in state.

I used a net price calculator (I know they may not be 100% accurate) for my dream out-of-state school and after estimated grants etc. the price is around $23K. I did the same for the in-state school I’d be attending and it’s $13K. Neither school is by any means, hard to get into. The average GPA of the out-of-state school is 3.1, the in-state school average GPA is 3.6 (That’s not accurate because I know people I graduated with who were in the 2.0’s who go there now).

Both schools offer scholarships for transfer students but the amounts vary. I’m going to try my hardest to maintain my 3.8, but I know my chances of going out-of-state are slim. And since only one of my parent’s works, I’d probably be commuting (if I went to the in-state school, which is an hour away) when I REALLY wanna stay on campus.

I want to know what I can do now and do later on, in order to secure as many grants and scholarships as possible. I’d like to go to either schools but money is the issue. I thought about applying to one scholarship a week starting in 2020.

If someone could give me some advice that’d be nice.

I’m sure others will chime in with some helpful info., but I’m wondering if you’ve really thought about the one hour commute? Is that on a train so you could use that time to study? Or is it something you’d drive and a two hour time sink everyday, possibly more with traffic? Sometimes people underestimate the real cost of commuting from home, especially if affordable housing with a room mate would allow you to have an on campus job, be part of the community and have more access to the university resources.

The other thing people will want to know to help you is your state because financial aid provided by state programs varies.

How much does your state school offer in transfer scholarships? Do you see any listed on their website? Did the NPC ask if you were a transfer student?