We were full pay and paid tuition insurance every semester. I have no idea if it would have paid out but we felt better knowing it was there. (We’ve had a serious injury and a concussion…)
For both Ds, I was pretty insistent on finishing in four years — but they could also take extra courses in the summer on the family budget. They each had a couple extra credits at graduation.
When they were quite young (in the summer before 9/11) we bought life insurance policies large enough to put them both through college.
Truly, I get that not everyone can do these things.
Mostly my point is that you can’t budget every last dollar for college. Something else will come up in the duration.