@youcee Thanks for the perspective, but I think I do need to start planning for the finances of a much more pricey four years than we had planned since her birth. Maybe “worrying” was the wrong word, but honestly, the idea of saddling my kids with thousands of dollars in debt, and expecting them to somehow start a life in CA where the housing prices are impossible, does keep me up at night. Good for you that your kid got in, but I think that it still sounds pretty random and lucky to have gotten in, definitely not a given, as it should be for a top student. I definitely am not in the mindset that any one school is best for my kids–not by a long shot. I just am rattled by the idea that any kid with top grades and scores–my kid or anyone else’s–can’t make a reasonably safe assumption that they will get into a UC. It’s not right. I see a lot of kids in the CC where I teach who are so smart and dedicated and they don’t get to have that college experience. They’re getting a good education, but, honestly, they worked about ten times harder in high school than our generation, and what did they get for it? A heck of a lot less than we got! They are very bitter, too, believe me. And I can’t blame them. I really believe that the residential experience of freshman year is good for young people, and I want my kids to have that. You can’t really get that feel at most of the CalStates. The sense of community just isn’t the same.