How to narrow down a college list?

For my youngest, her criteria was: 1-2 hours from home, not huge, not in a city, where she wasn’tthe biggest fish in the pond but the pond was of good quality.

Colleges far away have the following issues:

  1. if public, the OOS cost is more
  2. Travel costs
  3. Travel time/inconvienence
  4. If you need help, farther away from your parents. My youngest got a kidney infection this year and I was easily able to travel to stay with her in the hospital.

What are your criteria?