Answers

Financial aid will, of course, be a practical factor in making the decision of where to go to college because you need to be able to afford the college you go to. You should make your preliminary choices simply because you want to go to that school for a very good reason, e.g. they have a great math department and you want to study math. Only let financial aid be a factor if you have to. If it comes down between your first choice with a bad financial aid package and your second choice with a good financial aid package, you might have to go with your second choice, depending on your financial situation.

This is certainly something that you'll have to discuss with your parents. The way I look at it, the student is responsible for choosing schools that he/she wants to attend and the parent's part in the decision is making the choice financially. Most of the financial burden rests on the parents, except for loans, so this seems to make sense.

The thing is, the amount that it will cost for you to go to college really doesn't vary THAT much from school to school. It's going to be a pretty standard amount because of the FAFSA and Profile, with some variation depending on how much money the school has endowed for financial aid. When my son was applying to school, we noticed that it would actually cost less for him to attend some more prestigious private schools than the state schools he applied to, possibly because they just have more money for financial aid. So it might not even affect your decision at all!

If you end up at a lower choice school simply because it meant you had to take out less loans, you may be unhappier in the long run. A college education is an important thing, and the experience you have will vary drastically from institution to institution. Your choice of school should rely heavily on non-financial reasons, because it's going to determine your environment, and basically your life, for the next four years. Don't make the mistake of thinking that paying back less loans will make you happy, when you would have been happier with the better education.

What savvy1 said is really good advice. Keep in mind that you're deciding where to spend 4 years of your life, and where to get your education, which will greatly affect your future. Will you be happier paying off more loans with a better degree and potentially better job/life? Or will you be happier without the financial burden but always wondering what going to college somewhere else could have been like? It's a tough choice, but an important one.

I agree. Money isn't everything, and you should remember that when making the choice about where to go to school.