<p>My D chose to go to Indiana U and is in their Hutton Honors college.
Money was a factor, but not the ONLY factor.</p>
<p>She was accepted at several top LACs/Ntls Us, but the finances didn’t work for us; we had good deal of savings but not in the 200k range, so it would have meant BIG debt. I wanted her to finish UG with no debt, or max of 5-7k total.</p>
<p>She was also accepted at several very good (but not top-top) LACs and Universities that offered great merit. Those would have been doable, and were among her choices.</p>
<p>She loves the honors program at her school–she’s taken 3 honors courses so far (in 2 now, she is a Freshman still). At her school to get honors designation on diploma, you are required to have taken at least 8 honors courses during your time at IU. They are excellent, rigorous, writing-intensive, discussion-intensive classes. She’s actually found her non-honors courses to be very good, too, partly b/c at a public U many of her APs, etc allowed her to skip entry-level courses, so mostly she’s in 300-level courses. She’s in honors housing, and has met lots of bright, curious, fun people. And she loves the energy of a big campus–lots of arts/cultural events, etc.</p>
<p>She registers early, and is eligible to apply for honors grants to help pay for study abroad or other academic pursuits. She also got a big honors scholarship, which made it very affordable (we are OOS). She’s already established good relationships with professors. I was worried she’d be lost in the shuffle at a big school but that hasn’t happened.</p>
<p>She does actively seek out/take advantage of the honors activities, etc, and it’s been great for her. She loves it. For a less proactive or shy type, it might not be the best. </p>
<p>Overall, I don’t see a downside to a good public honors program, especially if your child is interested in grad school, and you want to minimize UG debt.</p>
<p>Others will have different opinions, and it might not work for all kids, but it’s working for mine. If money had not been a factor…she might have gone for ‘big name U’, but she has zero regrets.</p>