From a financial perspective alone, S1 was admitted on full merit to a public college in NYC.
Was more expensive to go there than zero scholarship at a rural public school, due to cost of living.
He transferred to an Ivy, paying tution now, but from what I see, there are a very wide variety of socioeconomics at his new school, from rural poor to very wealthy. He is under no pressure to be a big spender at the Ivy.