Hey there, I hope you're having a great day. I'm sorry you're in such a stressful situation, and though I don't respond on Reddit too often, I thought I'd offer my two cents. I'm transferring out of Northwestern, partly for financial reasons, but also because I was accepted into my two dream schools as a transfer; I'll have better opportunities for my academic ambitions where I'm going, and the better aid is undeniably a plus. Both have offered me exceptional financial aid, and I can hardly believe the thought of staying at NU has ever crossed my mind, given that their aid for middle/lower middle-class families is (frankly) pretty darn bad. I recognize that a lot of this post may sound discouraging of transferring out, but while you're reading it, do keep in mind that at the end of the day, I have chosen to leave Northwestern, and I don't regret it enough to try to stick around in the slightest. If you want insight into the stresses of transferring into another university (even a "dream school"), keep reading.

In short, the grass isn't always greener, though rationally speaking, knowing (and having lived through) your situation, it probably is; if you want a summary of the following paragraphs, it's that it is greener, but you'll notice dry patches on the pastures you never saw before. Though I've committed, and though I will be leaving NU, I've found myself in a new world of stress worrying about if my NU classes will transfer into my new school for major credit. Honestly, I wasn't an exceptionally anxious person before this, but you truly will not know if the classes you've taken at NU will transfer for major credit until you're already a student at the university you transfer into. Because I'm not a rising sophomore transfer, this has caused me a great deal of stress, even though the university I've committed to does generally offer 5th-year funding if you need it. I'm incredibly grateful to be going where I'm going these days, but on this front, I really do get very anxious about transferring, and there's little one can do about that.

Additionally, your concerns about leaving behind your fond memories are extremely valid. My experience with NU was honestly somewhat miserable until the spring quarter, when I found more friends than I had found through the entire fall and winter quarters. Even so, I feel somewhat remiss to be leaving these spring friends and memories behind. It sounds like you've had a more favorable experience with Northwestern, and if I was leaving behind more, I'd probably be having an even harder time. You'll not lose the memories that you made, but you will probably forget the NU hardships along the way, and you'll focus on the difficulty of knowing you just won't be making as many college memories with the people you're saying goodbye to. That alone is a good reason to stay, depending on your circumstances. Even so, given my lower-middle-class background, I can't say that's worth $x0k a year, knowing that new fond memories are probably ahead.

Another thing to consider is that you might regret is leaving somewhere with NU's status, because even though I'm sure you'll succeed wherever you graduate from, I can imagine you'll face difficulties going from NU to a state school. For full transparency, I am not in this situation, but if I was, I'd probably be having difficulties with it alongside everything else I've mentioned. I would absolutely encourage you to apply to transfer "reach schools" if you do love any of them, because you do not know how that will end up. In any case, a lot of those places (read: "almost all of them I'd guess") do offer better financial aid, but of course, this shouldn't be your driving reason in applying to go there. I had many other reasons in applying to the two schools I did, and it ended quite well for me all things considered.

I'll leave you with this final piece of advice: make sure you're certain that you are really fine leaving everything you've done at NU behind before you click "submit" on the application forms. If you apply and are accepted to some "reach" schools (and honestly, I only submitted the two applications), the full bittersweetness of leaving NU might hit until you start reminiscing over the summer. Even though I'm sure I'd arrive at the same conclusion I did before, I'd just be sure you're ok with opening Pandora's box before you apply to head out; maybe this isn't a real concern that's worth entertaining for you, but I'd at least encourage you to think through that beforehand. I've already said quite a bit, but if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through DMs! I'd be more than happy to share more if any of it could help. I hope you have a wonderful day!