Have you run the net price calculators for the UC schools you applied to? If you are a CA resident you should qualify for the Blue and Gold promise (assuming your family doesn’t have large assets).
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/glossary/blue-and-gold/
Maybe SD is graduating from high school a few years younger than most kids, has parents educated in a different country and hasn’t has any guidance at home or school about financial aid. He has come to the right place to ask questions and learn how to find the answers.
For UC’s you will get your tuition/fees covered under Cal Grant if you meet the income and asset ceilings (family of 3 income 80k, assets 67k) or Blue and Gold plan. You will likely get a bit more toward some expenses. You will have to take your student loan 5.5k and have some work contribution about 3k, the rest your parents pay or borrow. Run the NPC for one, they will all be roughly the same.
For Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, NU, Duke they will cover you with financial aid after your parents pay the college calculated Institutional EFC which will vary by school. Some of these may expect you to take student loan and have student contribution but some will not expect the student loan. Most do not give merit. A couple do but it is very hard to get.
NYU and Michigan will gap you. I don’t think your income is low enough for Michigan to help an OOSer. NYU will make you pay almost all of it, I am pretty sure. You will get something, not sure what. NYUs aid calculator is crap.
Did you see the list of colleges with large awards for NMF? Look in the threads pinned to the top of the forum.
For loans students can take this each year 1st 5,500, 2nd 6,500 3rd+ 7,500 each year till total cap of 32,000 is hit. Otherwise your parent have to take a Plus Loan or a private loan. If they cosign a loan with you, you are both on the hook for paying it off. Smart people will keep this to a bare minimum.
For safety schools: Cal Grant should cover most of tuition at a CSU (it’s worth about ~1000 less than tuition at a CSU.)
@SD11235 Marlboro is offering 52 full scholarships this year. You may want to see if this is the right school for you. They want one student from each state. https://www.marlboro.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/types/renaissance