It's too easy for those that need $$$ for college to get it.
1) FIll out a FAFSA. This will tell you how much you really need it. If your folks are loaded and want to penny-pinch you, then that's on you. Make it work!

2) There are LOADS of NG grants/schollys out there for folks. Stop being lazy and put a pen to paper or your fingers to some keys and write a few essays. You ARE in college aren't you?

Then who said you *had* to go to a PRIVATE school with their sky high prices? There are loads of state schools under $5,000 per year. And although these may not have tuitions that low they have STELLAR academic records:

Chapel Hill
U of Michigan
U of California (LA, Berkely, SD)
Alabama
U of Maryland
U of Texas

Sounds to me like some folks don't want to try.

Yeah so what some of your friends maxed out their finaid and still owe $10ks in tution per year. I know this is the case at many *prestigious* schools (Ivys, Duke, George Washington, MIT, Stanford, the list goes on) I'm sure if they got accepted to them schools they could've got accepted to CHEAPER schools as well and they should've planned the shit out before they got on campus.

In life,
we have to make decisions.