First, run the NPC on Vanderbilt and Rhodes (plus, depending on your daughter’s strengths and interests, RPI, St Olaf, Dickinson, Williams, Macalester, Bryn Mawr, WashU, St Louis U, Hendrix).
Are any results affordable?
Then, run the NPC on UT Knoxville and UT Chattanooga. Look up merit scholarships.
Finally, have her study very hard for her PSAT.
Is it that you don’t want to pay 15k (because the costs seem too high compared to what you’d like to pay, “sticker shock” because you just discovered college costs in the us, or because it’s more than what you consider it’s worth…) or is it that you cannot pay 15k (IE, you make less than 90k, have seven children, etc.)? Do you qualify for PELL?
You don’t have to answer on this forum, but answers to this will guide the college strategy. For instance, many top colleges offer full tuition to full ride scholarships if you make less than 75k for a family of 4 or 5. (They are, of course, very hard to get into). Some private colleges have financial aid even for families making 150-180k and many offer scholarships for stats (IE., high SAT or ACT scores).
Your own instate Universities will be greatly discounted already and scholarships are available to residents with excellent SAT scores. CCs are free but the last two years would be full pay or near full pay, so for strong students it’s better to apply early (by November 1 senior year) to compete for scholarships. Both UTK and UTC have good scholarship packages and UT K’s Honors college is not bad at all for a strong student.
You’re going to have two issues with European Universities: many don’t recognize homeschooling and most want AP scores.
Can the trip to Mexico be moved to June? She’d really need to have 2-3 AP scores in order to apply to European Universities. (Scores of 5 for the best Universities).
Another issue is recognition : what university is that? Is it an old, respected university that’s very hard to get into for Slovakian students? If not, it’ll be that much harder to get into a graduate school (it’s harder already since she’ll have no support and no career center).
Another issue is that, if it doesn’t work, she’s lost her freshman status in the us and can’t get the good scholarships at UT mentioned above.
One way to mitigate that would be to take a gap year and enroll in a good 12th grade near her grandmother’s. She’d become fluent and could decide if she wants to stay for college or come back to the us, and she’d have more choices without jeopardizing her freshman status. She’d also make friends, which would help her socially - most European Universities are commuter based so it’s hard to meet people and make friends.
(Also, check: Is the full history program in English or only one class here and there? Or is it an English language program?)