One other thought: have you looked into Canadian universities? If there's no particular US destination you have your heart set on, I suspect you'd find that the college experience in Canada will give you comparable rewards, and a very similar N. American lifestyle, at a substantially lower cost.

You might want to start at an institution known in the US as a "community college." They're often quite a bit less expensive -- 30%-40% less if I'm not mistaken -- than full, four year colleges/universities. I'm sure if you google something like "guide US community colleges" you can find a list and start doing some research. Typically students transfer to a four year college/university after attending community college for 1-2 years. Good luck!

I think going to university in a foreign country is always very difficult. You have quite a few things to think about if it's something you want to do. If you want to narrow down the number of universities, try to think of areas that you want to live in. The US has lots of different cultures. You could only look at universities in an area that you find interesting. Another way to narrow it down is to find rankings of universities for the program you're interested in. For example, some universities have very good business programs, but their education program is just ok. If you know what you want to study, you can decide that way. American universities are very expensive. If it's a public university, they charge more to out of state people, and possibly even more for international students. You might be able to get some grants and scholarships, but I still think it's going to be expensive. I found this site: http://www.iefa.org/ which lists international scholarships, but the competition might be tough. The university I went to, Michigan State University, has a lot of international students so they do have some information. I think a lot of other well known universities probably will too. You could probably contact someone at a university you're interested in to help you. Normally they have financial and academic advisers to help new students. Good luck with your search!