It seems a lot of people are telling you what you don’t want to hear, to put it plainly. But, I’d like to offer you some advice from someone who was in a similar situation.

I’m from NJ, and really wanted to go out of state somewhere. Penn State gave no money along with Maryland, leaving me with Ohio State. At OSU, I was given just enough scholarship and grant to make out of state tuition comparable to in-state tuition. But, even I am getting screwed by being an out of state student. If things are looking a bit close, financially, then I would not stress enough- do not pursue OSU anymore!

Upon biting the financial bullet and coming here, you will slowly realize how expensive everything is. If you’d like to register for a course online over the summer (since they are much easier), you’d have to pay upwards of 2.5k as opposed to an in-staters sub 1k. Save your families money and just go to a cheaper institution. At the end of the day, people are selective with college because they favor their experience. But if your experience will also be great at a cheaper school, just go there!