I have always been a big believer of going away to college. You grow up being out on your own.
There is a probably a debt number I would agree to for going away to college. I am not sure what that number is. It is probably in the $20-30K range. Over that I probably would not recommend going away for college for all 4 years.
A lot depends on what the student will study. If the most likely job after college will pay $50-60K then I would be ok with the debt. If that number was $30-35K then taking on the debt might not be a good idea.