I disagree with you about how “Most CC’ers” “seem to love” NU. Every family that I know who has done the NUIn program (first semester abroad) has loved it and raved about the experience. I see many CC posts from people with no personal experience speculating it may be difficult to transition to campus, get credits, make friends, etc. And there are always tons of posts about how the program is some kind of shifty admissions practice, notwithstanding the fact that many colleges offer similar programs. And posters still with some frequency trot out the old “gaming the system” article, even though it is very old at this point.
As for “shouting down” the downsides of co-op, again, the negative posts about co-op seem to come from posters without personal experience and say things like “It’s not that different from other schools” when in fact it is extremely different from other schools. There is also one person whose advice is to always choose a cheaper school. That may be good advice if a student would have to take on a lot of debt or who plans on graduate school, but if not, I don’t think that advice is good. Also, I know several honors graduates of fine colleges who are unemployed/underemployed one or more years after graduation while the NU graduates I know tend to have good jobs in their chosen fields, which I think is directly attributable to their co-op experience.
My advice to any parent of an accepted student whose child is considering NU is to join the Northeastern Parents Facebook group where you can interact with thousands of parents who have firsthand knowledge of the benefits and requirements of the co-op program, academic experience and global opportunities. For a student, my strong advice is to speak to NU students who have been in your major and location for the best advice.
No one college is right for everyone. Good luck to all deciding where their best fit is.