I promise you that as this journey progresses, you will hear negative things about EVERY college on the list.
You really need to put all of this aside and do your own research and exploration. My own kids would NEVER have chosen a college if we’d have listened to the negative nellies out there.
No college is perfect. But your D needs a place she can grow and become the adult that she’s meant to be- at a price your family can afford. And if that means going to a college that her best friend “hates” or that her English teacher says is full of losers, or that your sister-in-law says “oh, wasn’t that the place where the cops raided the fraternity last month?”… then it is what it is.
No place is perfect but you only need to find a list of colleges which will work for your D- not for someone else’s kid. I remember a hilarious family gathering where one young cousin announced where he was going-- and the family busy body loudly said “They have terrible financial aid”.
Well- according to the young cousins parents, the actual aid offer was $5 off what the Net Price Calculator on the college’s website said it was going to be. And since they ran the numbers, determined they could afford it, what gives someone else the right to say “terrible financial aid” (and it wasn’t-- it was phenomenal).
So buckle your seatbelt and stop listening!