I originally thought we would apply to 5 colleges max, but we're knee deep in the application process and the number is up to 11.
Yikes. I had the opposite problem with DS. I think he should consider more schools, but he's pretty much made up his mind. Total of 3 schools, 2 in-state public (23k/26k) and 1 Canadian (36k USD - at current exchange rate).
We're different than many on this board, because we've paid for private school for both of our kids. We never sent them to expensive private schools, but mid-priced private schools. Right now they both attend a Catholic high school. We didn't do this to eventually send them to an Ivy league school, but to make sure that they are well prepared for college and life afterwards. I feel fortunate that we had this option (many don't) and don't regret any of the money we spent. So far so good.
I mention this because we have spent a lot of money on our kid's education, but we don't have a strong belief that this means they need to go to an expensive university when the in-state option is just as good. DS completely gets it (and he's a 3.8 student taking mostly AP/honor classes).
One of his options - his sure thing - is a 2nd tier in-state university where he'll know a lot of people. The average GPA for admission is around 3.5 with about 15k students. He would be more than happy to go there. As a side note, this school has *much* smaller class sizes compared to his other choices and classes are taught by Professors, not grad students (the undergrad population is 98% of the school, so not many grad students to choose from). Not at all a bad option. If you're worried that your DD would like a smaller environment, maybe there are universities in your state that match this profile?
As for the major, we've also been clear with our kids that they need to select a major that will lead to employment. If they want to study art/music, then they can select it as a minor or do a double-major - unless they have a plan they can sell us (teaching degree, etc). DW has many co-workers that went back to school to get their nursing degree after graduating with a less-employable major. It's great that kids want to explore their interests, but they should realize that's a secondary goal. The primary goal is to learn something useful in order to be successful in life. Of course, IMO.