<prompt> Human: I am a senior in high school applying for colleges. I want to go to a specific college because I like the environment, community and style of the college. When I get an estimate of tuition after financial aid, it comes to a price of 45,000. I have an older sister in college, her tuition is 18,000 and they arent happy with that price either.I dont want to go to a college and end up in a lifetime of debt, but I really want to go to this college. Would I be able to get scholarships and get the price reasonable? Should I just go to a community college, get all the essentials out of the way and transfer? Or should I just not apply to this college?Edit: To add more information, I want to be a Machine Learning Engineer. I cant find much data on the salary, but glassdoor consistently reports an average salary in the six-figure range. I know that ML is in high demand right now, and I am hoping that it will stay that way for at least the next six years just so I can pay off any debt. This college is one of the only schools I know of that teaches ML, and they are well known for their research in the topic.Edit 2: As per recommendations, the college I want to apply to is MIT. Assistant: If this is actually MIT you would be insane not to go. The community college route is great for certain careers and jobs: not high level computer science. You would be stunting your chances at your end goal by following a lot of this advice. You do have to ask yourself some questions: are you sure you want computer science, can you stay dedicated, and are you willing to work HARD. Transitioning from high school to high level programs is night and day. If you go to MIT you will have access to internships and skills that few others will have. Take advantage of them early. Your summers need to be spent honing your skills making connections. Remember that most interviews in this field will be heavily technical so you need to put your money where your mouth is. My friend group just graduated from a strong program, but not as strong as MIT. About half of them are making 120-140k immediately out of school granted many in HCOL areas. This will skyrocket over time, especially if you have a degree from MIT.uLougehrig10, if you can swing it this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Most of the people giving you advice are NOWHERE NEAR your situation. If you have any questions please feel free to ask, I can answer or pass on a lot of questions about the general field and post college employment. Human: Thank you for the advice!I havent applied, but I really want to. I asked this question just to see if I should even apply  <response>: You definitely should. However, definitely apply broadly. MIT is super competitive. I was in a relatively high end pre college program always had a few students go to Princeton, Brown, Yale, etc... and it was verrry rare for us to get anyone to MIT. 