Chardo kudos to you for being the parent that I would like all parents to be. But unfortunately there are way too many on CC who do care what CC lists as its top universities. Why do you think there is a “Chance” section here on CC or a separate “Ivy” section or even why schools are categorized other than by alphabetical order? It is because many care. Unfortunately, consciously or unconsciously it affects the perception of schools like Alabama on many people.
My guess for both of you and Lucie, is that if there were no other top students attending Alabama than your children, even given a full ride to attend, I would believe that neither of you would send your child to such an institution. However, given that you both are aware that many top student attend Alabama made the decision easier to send your children there. The decision became easier still when CBH, UFE, STEM to MBA etc was also benefits of going to Alabama and then throw in the great merit awards and your children are attending Alabama.
Would the inquiry into Alabama been there had either of you not known of the sheer number of top students going there via its Honors College? This is why I hope that CC powers that be look to re-evaluates what standards it requires to be placed in the CC Top University List.