Early HS graduation & merit aid?

[BelknapPoint]

Parent(s) can almost prevent a kid from attending college immediately after high school if they want. This is not to say that most parents will actually do that if college is financially affordable.

Again, this is a something that parents have the power to do, even though only very authoritarian or otherwise extreme parents will actually do that.

I was thinking in terms of the other way around – a kid who doesn’t want to attend college after high school, at least not right away. Does a parent have almost 100% of the decision in a case like this, if the parent wants the kid to start college?