I hope the OP comes back to clarify.
We have these debates frequently…. and after 100 posts or so it turns out that the kid does not have the stats to get admitted to “Dream School”, so in essence it’s truly a strawman argument.
A debt free education is wonderful. But there isn’t a lot of evidence that a modest amount of debt will cripple a kid. The stories in the media about how a kid’s life was ruined with debt obfuscates the reality- taking on debt for a for-profit college is ALWAYS a bad idea. Piling on debt by getting a Master’s degree because a person doesn’t want to use the shoe leather required to get a job after a Bachelor’s is faulty logic. Using up a kid’s Pell and then maxxing out on federal loans to get a degree in “Court reporting” or “Travel and tourism” (fields which do not require a bachelor’s in most instances) is a dumb idea.
Etc. A kid smart enough to get into Lehigh early is likely smart enough to read the fine print on loan documentation. A kid smart enough to get into Lehigh early is likely smart enough to use a payback calculator and understand the implications of a 27K loan.