[hoosierpearl]

My son is in grad school. Our experience was
1. He got a scholarship for the tuition for community college, lived at home, only paid for his books
2. Some small scholarships for bachelor's degree, had to hunt really hard for those
3. Student loans
4. Grants not available unless you are dirt poor

When I was in college there were more scholarships and grants available than there are now. We really searched hard for scholarships, getting reference books from the library and searching the college catalog. Most scholarships that are available are for minority students. There is next to nothing if you are caucasian. No matter what your grades are.
One friend had a daughter with straight A plus in high school and that is mostly what she got in college, above a 4.0. She was never able to get a scholarship because they considered that her parents made too much money, about 50,000 a year.
If you go for a graduate degree and don't get an assistantship, your debt load could be as high as going to law school. So steep you'd have to have exceedingly high wages to make the payments.

[homemom]

Sounds like there WAS more assistance available when I was in school. But still, your son made it, making wise decisions like community college and living at home first.

I, too, rmeember that there seemed to be many many more scholarships for minority groups than caucasions. And realistically, $50,000 is a lot, but probably cannot support a family AND send a child to college.