i’m a US citizen and live in massachusetts. umass amherst is ridiculously expensive for instate and is honestly too large of a school for me to be comfortable with so i’ve ruled it out after a visit (even if it’s stupid to do so i can’t force myself into a school that’s uncomfortable). our state universities don’t quite offer the kind of strong science and math i’m looking for although i haven’t visited so i haven’t ruled them out. there’s no state schools i could commute to because i live in the middle of no where. $20,000 is basically the money my parents can provide through their income (they have no college savings for me) plus what i can make in a part time job/ work study, etc. i’m very blessed to have such a good financial situation overall as you guys have mentioned and this thread is not at all pretending that i don’t have privileges.