We had the same situation as the OP few years back. I have a full pay Junior at an Ivy and we’re in-state CA, so UCLA/Cal is 1/2 the cost of an Ivy. She was also offered 1/2 tuition merit at USC and 1/2 COA merit at Case Western. I joked that if she decides to take one of the cheaper options, that I will buy her a really nice car. She didn’t take the bait. It was a hard decision to make for us but now that she’s almost done, it was easier (financially) than we originally thought. We ended up able to finance her education using current income without any much change in retirement savings and lifestyle. Also the following contributed to how we were able to do this: 529 savings, outside scholarships, summer/winter/school jobs, savings when she went to study in Melbourne for a semester and hopefully savings on her last semester (pro-rated tuition).