@LucieTheLakie Your points are right.
When my kids were at Bama, I met 10 families from one Calif high school at Family Weekend. I asked them why they were paying full freight at Bama. they said that their kids didn’t get into UCLA or UCB and they wanted the full college experience and football…and couldn’t get that really at the other UCs. They said that paying for Bama was worth it…and not all that much more as long as they opted for standard doubles dorms, instead of suites. They didn’t mind the doubles because at the UCs, the frosh often get triples.