Another potentially smart choice is getting into an absolutely top tier school, even if you can't pay for it, and dropping out with unpaid bills (rather than lo

Another potentially smart choice is getting into an absolutely top tier school, even if you can't pay for it, and dropping out with unpaid bills (rather than loans); the bills get forgiven or can be discharged in bankruptcy, and dropped out to do join or found a startup is a really reasonable reason to leave. You get the signaling effects of a top tier school with virtually none of the financial cost, and depending on how long you stick around, potentially little of the time cost. (I did this at MIT; I couldn't get any financial aid because my parents wouldn't participate, so I ended up taking classes semester after semester and then getting retroactively de registered for the semester once they realized the bill hadn't been paid.) I believe Steve Jobs did this at Reed, and I know of other people. It is probably safest in a rich private institution vs a state school.