But everyone saying it’s broken found affordable options for your students, right? It may not have been their first choice, but they did get to go to college.
It doesn’t have to be a flagship. In California, even if you call both Cal and UCLA the flagships, many many students go to other schools and get great educations for a reasonable price. Same in Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia.
My kids had to go cheap. We figured it out, we did everything we could to save a dime (lowest meal plan, no cars, used books, no spring breaks to Mexico). They didn’t go to ‘dream’ schools but they did graduate and start their adult lives. And they had fun too.
I don’t think that it is unfair to think a student might have to go to a non-flagship and that the family will have to pay for it, that the student may have to go part time and work part time, or live like a poor college student in a building without a lazy river.
My daughter is in grad school, shares her house with 4 others, and pays $400/mo in rent. I can’t even describe how unluxurious her living situation is. No garage, self shoveling - that’s rough at 4 am when she’s heading off to her job at Starbucks. I think it will be about 20 below tomorrow morning.