<p>Here’s another option to consider: have your D defer enrollment for 1 year. In this year, she would need to work a job or jobs and apply all earnings toward her educational costs. Frankly, I think she needs to understand how hard it is to earn $48,000 ** after taxes ** to pay that college.</p>
<p>Also during this year, formulate another list of colleges to apply to. This time with more emphasis on affordability, but also retaining high quality. There are huge lists of schools on this forum which offer merit scholarships. Sometimes these are large dollar amounts (range of $25,000/year). Make sure she visits these potential affordable schools, to have a basis for selecting whether the original Dream School is really any better and also whether it’s worth the additional cost. After next years acceptance results come in, then make the decision about the Dream School vs the affordable options.</p>
<p>There is no reason she could not attend an Ivy for grad school by going the affordable route.</p>
<p>It would not be suprising if after working some jobs for a year that her outlook on her major changes.</p>
<p>We all learn by going through this process. In retrospect, it would have been better if she had some merit scholarship private schools on her list this year.</p>