<p>Top colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Wesleyan, Williams have amazing financial aid, even for people whose families make up to $180,000/year. Other schools have financial aid, as well as merit aid (even for students with well off families).</p>
<p>Money should not be an obstacle at all. </p>
<p>Selective schools are actively looking for applicants like you. and Questbridge is a great resource if you qualify: ask your counselor. Depending on other factors in your academics and life, you would have a good chance at many top schools, believe me. And they love kids from backgrounds that include some “obstacles” and hard work.</p>
<p>A main obstacle here seems to be that you are expected to carry on the family business. If that is what your parents have envisioned, I’m sure it is a disappointment, but they need to adjust more to the new culture in which they find themselves in, and to what seems like considerable academic talent on your part. And the fact that you “loathe” the work is a serious consideration.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could enlist someone to talk with them, and help you out. They may not know much about US colleges or even the culture that now tells everyone that college is a must.
Good luck!</p>