If your son has good grades and test scores, there are lots of merit scholarships available if you're willing to look below the "top tier" of universities. I had multiple friends who chose to accept full-rides from regional state universities rather than pay full price at their flagship state university, and their career outcomes have been excellent. There are definitely trade-offs, but they benefited from being a "big fish in a small pond", and were always the first in line for research opportunities, internships, etc.

University of Alabama in particular has massively increased the amount of merit aid it awards to out-of-state students, and it now attracts a huge number of students from the Northeast and the Chicago area that would never have considered it before. There are other schools using similar strategies.

As I mentioned in another comment, the cost of any given school is very unpredictable until you actually get accepted and get your financial package. The winning strategy is to research schools which are known for generous financial offers for similar students, and then apply to as many of them as is manageable to increase your odds of a winning "lottery ticket".

I had good grades and test scores. Very nearly straight 4.0. I applied to a wide variety of schools. I got zilch at every single one, save some strange merit scholarships that were basically 1/2 off after increasing the price by 2x, but everyone who had at least a B average got these. I was actually in the accelerated program in HS, but the schools didn't take in the different GPA scale, so taking the harder courses ended up screwing me out of money.

Now that I'm older I still get no money, but I don't even get the "merit scholarships."

> Early 90's, I had just left the military and was thus able to apply for financial aid without recording my parents' income. So I was able to claim having made $15k the year before. I also accurately reported my savings. My total non-loan financial aid package consisted of $500/year of some state matching fund. I was also expected to contribute 100% of my savings in year one. I was told I had made too much money for a Pell grant. Something which remained true the next year when my income totaled $8k.

My parents income was slightly above your income, yet I got Pell grants all four years.

Just gonna say that you can get some level of federal grants and loans going to foreign schools which cost far less. I’m obviously familiar with the UK which is very open to having US foreign students coming over (with a weak pound it’s worth considering). The application process is also much cheaper and easier in most European countries. Of course this doesn’t solve the problem of US university being so damn expensive, but it can help individuals who want to get a good education for cheaper.

That's unfortunate. I used to be a tour guide and raved about the awesome need-based aid at Rice. The maximum amount of loans I had to take out each year was maybe $2,500 and my parents didn't have to pay much more than that, and I had a friend whose parents' total annual income was only $7,000 and he didn't pay a dime (and he had a workstudy job in the student pub). However, I also knew someone who had 2 parents with engineer salaries and they didn't really qualify for any aid so his parents weren't excited about him going to Rice compared to a state school since they didn't really get any aid.

No one at Rice has asked for my opinion, and I'm not privy to all the numbers behind the scenes, but I'm surprised they can't be more generous with the middle class since we have such a large endowment. They recently announced a big new financial aid initiative, but I wish tuition could be free again like it was until 1965!

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/18/health/rice-university-fi...