I think the OP is dealing with a couple of hard choices because older kids got their dream schools the business is having a hard spell, and college just costs a lot more now than it did even 5 years ago.
But what if this school didn’t exist? Would there be other choices? Of course!. Hampshire just announced it is not admitting a freshman class. It is a unique school offering a unique program. A kid I know graduated from the school and it was a perfect choice for him. He had LD so while his siblings went off to top schools (an Ivy and a T-30), he needed something different. Worked for him. If Hampshire wasn’t open, he’d have found somewhere else. His grad degree is from a big public school and he adjusted to that learning model.
There really isn’t only one school for a student. If a certain program was really necessary and popular, there’d be more than one school offering that experience.