<p>“told her that the govt. would be able to pay for me to go to college”</p>
<p>The government may be “able” to pay for you to go to college but that doesn’t mean they will. Without committing to some government obligation, such as ROTC, you are going to need the university to contribute substantial amounts of aid at any $20K+ per year schools. And as another poster wrote, only the top colleges have pockets deep enough for the $35K and up tuition hit. Are your grades / SAT / ACT scores good enough to get into one of the Ivys?</p>