The bottom line is that parents need to save early and often in a tax advantaged fund (529 College Savings Plan) so that you use compounded interest, reinvested dividends, dollar-cost averaging, and no federal (and most states) tax bill to your advantage. You do this and you will be a lot less concerned about the cost of college in the future.
If you wait until your kids (or grand kids) are in high school, it’s too late and now you are “chasing merit”. Some upfront financial planning will give you many college options 18-21 years later.