We also felt it would be helpful for our kids to have some skin in the game, whether it was through working and saving over the summers or scholarships.
Around here, summer jobs for teens are sparse as adults work them year-round. None of their friends could find summer jobs, either.
Both kids worked hard on their academics and won scholarships, so their 'skin' was to keep their scholarships and we would keep paying the rest. It worked out well. Both graduated debt free and our cost was 'minimal'.
Something I've seen here, and in other places, is that the kids go to the best school they could get into. Why is that? Our kids both went to a state school (but not in our state) and got wonderful jobs upon graduating (different areas of study). Both were offered the standard rate in jobs that offer the same salary to all new hires. It's a step system, so there is no negotiating. From there, both will continue in steps while promotions are awarded according to performance. School choice has nothing to do with it. Their workmates range from state school grads to 'name brand' schools. Unless one has a full ride at a name brand school, why go there? I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious.
Also, something I haven't seen mentioned here, or on any of the parenting boards I frequent (except for one dedicated to education), is the CLEP exam. One of our kids received 18 credit hours for the exams taken. One simply self studies and takes a multiple choice test. It's a pass/fail exam, and you know right away if you passed. About $120 is the cost of each exam. The kicker is to make sure the chosen university accepts CLEP scores. Interestingly, our state schools didn't (neither do most private schools), but the chosen out-of-state school did.
Regarding 'in-state' schools, don't be afraid to look outside of your state. Many state schools offer better deals to out-of-state students than their own residents. Our state is like that. Both kids went to school OOS because it made financial sense. Big name companies recruit at both schools, so it made perfect sense (and cents
).
Editing to add:
For those with kids in college now, it may not be too late to take some CLEP exams. Most of them are for things like History and foreign language (i.e. the first year or so of university gen ed), but if they haven't taken those classes yet, they can take a CLEP exam and simply have the credit transferred in (if the school accepts it--- check this first) and be done with it.