My family is a very similar situation with very similar numbers when it came to sending my brother to college. This year we have to pay about 5000, including everything, allowance, food, books, supplies. The amount that the college payed for him also included work-study, where he works for the college and the money goes straight to the tuition. You can also get another part time job during the summer. This is without school loans and not including scholarships you could obtain. This is in California, which is really doing bad right now; they will be raising tuition at California public colleges next year, so Illinois may be able to provide more for you. Look on collegeboard.com to see the profile for the University of Illinois and other schools.
I'm glad the US has made college very affordable for anyone. Good luck, my brother says college is a blast!
