Don’t under estimate merit aid. Our kid had the choice of 3 schools one of which offered him full tuition merit based. We only had to come up with the room and board. He is a good student so that helps. We had to set the right expectations early. We told him that we probably couldn’t afford an ivy. He ended up at a great LAC that is a good fit for him and with merit, it ended up costing about the same as our flagship school.