Anxious High School student about college admissions.

kidzncatz
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 14:18:05 +0000

@Ingriiid “My family is quite poor.
My family is having economic difficulties at the moment.
My parents have always said that they can pay for whatever college I choose.”

Big disconnect here. As others have mentioned, please find out from your parents how much they can afford (without loans) per year to send you to college. Then run the net price calculators for a number of different kinds of schools. Since you are a less-wealthy PA resident and a good but not top student, most out-of-state public universities and PA’s state-related schools (Penn State, Pitt, and Temple) will probably be too expensive, as they were for our family. The true state schools (such as West Chester, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg, etc.) are less expensive - my daughter chose West Chester - but if you are willing to consider a smaller school the private colleges in PA and other states may end up being even less expensive. Other possibilities are some of the non-flagship Ohio public universities, such as Toledo, Youngstown State, Cleveland State, which offer good merit aid for out-of-state students and sometimes award additional funds for lower income students.