@cupcakemuffins Even in so called “equal opportunity” public K12 education, nothing is equal. Our family has moved across the country multiple times since our oldest was in K. Schools vary widely from state to state and even within single school districts. Throw in private schools and homeschools, nothing about k12 education is “equal.”
In addition to that very real lack of equality in opportunity and education, most of the universities discussed on CC are private. The govt should absolutely have zero control over what those schools decide to charge. No one, not a single student regardless of their abilities, has a “right” to attend a private university.
Fwiw, our family is similar to @bgbg4us’s. Our kids either attend on merit, live at home and commute to a local U, or attend a CC (our Dd who took this approach had to move across the state for the only program in our state but bc it was very cheap CC tuition, paying for housing was affordable.) By the time our youngest graduates from college, we will have had non-stop college kids from 2007-2032. (Our 5th child is currently a college sophomore and 3 more are still at home.) We do not have college funds for our kids, but we also refuse to take out loans. Our kids have tiny college budgets, way below our EFC so their options are extremely limited. So far all of our older kids have managed to attend for the degree that they have wanted to pursue on our very tiny budget per child without having had to take out student loans.
And, so far, those scholarship/local/CC schools have not negatively impacted their careers or grad school goals. Our current high school Jr refuses to consider any school other than the local commuter school. She watched the college app stress of her next 2 older siblings and their lives on campus, and she insists that is not what she wants. No biggie to us. If that is the approach she wants to take, go for it. Her future will be absolutely fine. Zero stress for her right now over test scores or ECs or planning for college, She is loving high school with absolutely no outside pressures or concerns.