I still think it's realistic to expect a full college scholarship for state schools. My sister-in-law got one a few years ago (dental school now).
There are two tracks to choose from, in my mind.
You can choose the "free" state school track or you can aim for the Ivy.
It depends on whether you are looking for a good brand (Ivy Diploma) or a free school (taking on the debt in grad school).
For either track, one needs good grades in honors/AP courses and good test scores. In 12th grade one can apply both to state schools and to Ivies. So the idea of separate tracks does not make sense to me. How should the efforts of students on these supposedly different tracks differ?
The tracks don't have a difference in high school effort. I'm talking about post-high school tracks.
I chose the "state school" track (free) vs. the Ivy ($100,000). So did my college roommate. So there is that economic difference that you debating doesn't exist, but does exist if you have savings.
The academic difference is that you can more easily academically outperform your peers at the state school, which applies if you want to go to grad school. So my point is that it's possibly cheaper and possibly easier to get into a better grad school if you choose the non-Ivy state school.
