How do colleges expect high school seniors to take put loan or know how much to take out? We havent even finish high school yet!
fyi, there is a financial aid forum here and that is a good place to ask questions about aid and loans. The colleges expect that your parents help you to figure it out. Also a lot of high schools have a financial aid night to go learn the basics.
The colleges expect that you, as a 17 or 18 year old are only eligible for federal loans. And those amounts are limited, As a 17 or 18 year old you do have literacy to get on the internet and learn what you need to. There are books about college financing. How to Pay for College Without Going Broke. And there financial aid forum here has a thread on it pinned to the top.
Federal loan amounts are fixed: $5,500 for your freshman year. So, you’re not expeted to “figure it out”.
However, you do need to use the internet - as suggested by Brownparent above, the Financial Aid forum is an excellent source of information.
Just in case you didn’t already know, your parents will be taking the big loan out. As mentioned above, you can’t take that big of a loan out (such as $25,000); your parents will have to do that.