I didn’t really pay anything for D’s undergrad since it was paid for by merit scholarships. She enrolled in an instate public honors program where she completed her engineering degree and premed reqts. Our instate public schools are amazing and they have very qualified smart students. She had priority registration and an honors program advisor that personally worked with her all four years. She graduated college with honors and took a job to save some money for medical school. (she is applying this summer) Her classes especially junior and senior year were no more than 25 students. (this is a university with a population of 30,000) Her teachers knew her personally by name. (not a number) She graduated debt free. The student body was very diverse and they too had study abroad trips and trips like those mentioned at Duke.The first week at her job she had orientation. Most of her group of incoming graduates went to top universities. They are coming from families with money who were paying their graduates rents because DC is expensive. The point is all these students were working in the same capacity at this company that supposedly recruited at top tier schools. D loves her job and in less than a year she received a promotion. Her boss is a Duke graduate. D’s success was based on performance.
She made best of her situation. I could not afford to send her to an expensive private school. Now when she attends med school whatever I saved from undergrad will pay for medical school. A lot depends on the student. In her honors program she has students with perfect grades and close to perfect scores. It’s a matter of making use of the facilities that your college offers. Her classmate was recognized as a Goldwater Scholar and is now taking part in a fully funded PHD program in BME at John’s Hopkins.
So I will say that if your child is dedicated and focused on their goals they will find their path to success. As I reflect back I have no regrets. My D is not an outgoing person but she found her way in a big public school.