Hey Lorena... I'm from NW burbs of IL too! I wish I would've known that IL provided in-state tuition 4 years ago when I went to college. Somehow I did get quite a big scholarship from the school I attended which helped a lot, but it was a private university. I tried applying to state schools, but they always asked to see a copy of my green card... so I really had no choice but to attend a private school.

Definitely do some research on it. And I hope you do get to attend and get a degree in engineering... if you are looking at engineering schools, Bradley University, the school I went to has a pretty good program and they might even give you a scholarship. A lot of the people I knew received scholarships so there's a good chance you will too if you exceled in high school.