Makes me crazy when people respond before reading ~X(
@MotherOfDragons, can we duplicate your post and put it on all threads and forums?! 
I get that not everyone has time to read an entire thread before posting, but disclose that before you offer your opinion. Many forums I’ve belonged to require you to read at least the previous five pages of comments before adding your own. While I think that’s too strict, I get why they do.
Also, don’t send a PM to another poster in the thread playing dumb or trying to stir the pot. You’re fooling NOBODY.
And if you’re an OOS parent considering Alabama (or any other Southern flagship) for your child, be prepared to receive negativity from some of your neighbors/family members and plenty from certain folks here on CC who never miss a chance to put happy parents (aka “shameless boosters”) in their place. It makes the critics feel important and superior. Bless their hearts.
Well, one way to handle the negativity is to Not handle it, don’t engage, don’t explain, don’t comment. If you know that the person being negative is doing so just because they are ignorant of the facts that UA is a great university, which is constantly trying to improve itself, then by all means educate the person who is not in the “know”. However, if you know that he/she is just baiting you, then don’t bother to enlighten them. You and your student know the truth. Be happy for your student and yourself. In four years when your student graduates having paid $0 tuition…just smile,
I’m not sure the negativity is not simply ignorance. Really, if one Illinois parent tells another Illinois parent (who’s not yet researched college costs) that her kid’s planning on going to school in Alabama, “For g-d sakes, WHY???” does not seem an unreasonable response, and is likely the same response she’d have gotten if she’d said the kid was going to Alaska. In either case, the college plan is likely one the listener had never considered, or even heard of, and it’s not like the kid’s just going to a neighboring state.
The appropriate response is to answer the listener’s question, and tell her why. That could be as simple as, “My goodness, have you heard how expensive it is to attend an Illinois state school these days? DS is going to get FREE TUITION at Alabama . . . and he won’t have to tramp through snow to get to class!” Or add as much additional info as you like.
I actually can’t recall ever having encountered any negativity, because whenever anyone asks me where DS is attending school, my reply is always “University of Alabama, and with all the scholarships he’s receiving, he’ll graduate debt free!” The only response I’ve ever gotten is “Congratulations!” and a big smile. 
For those of you whose students are attending Alabama for reasons other than scholarships, you know why it’s your student’s first choice, so you also know full well how to defend that choice. Roll Tide!!!
We went through a bit of this with a different school. With UA, just mention all the new facilities, the Honors college, and the generous scholarships. Sometimes people just don’t know and a little bit of new information can quickly change their preconception. With that info, they might start thinking “Wow, if <insert your=”" child’s="" name="" here=""> is going there, it must be pretty good"
I am embarrassed to say that I was expecting a degree of negativity and ridicule from the uninformed whenever I answered questions about my son’s college choice. It never came.
I received a lot of ‘great school’ comments and a few asking how we would cope with having our child so far away but I never heard anything negative.
There was also a lot of surprise regarding the availability of scholarships as the perception in California seems to be that OOS schools would be too expensive. In some regards It’s a shame that school counsellors aren’t more educated in this area although I am selfishly quite happy that there isn’t more competition for places!
Thanks again for all the replies. I appreciate them all:)
Speaking as a current college professor, might I suggest that talking about “Ivy-caliber professors” and the like is pretty much sheer silliness?
Given how insanely tight the academic job market is these days (and has been for a decade in nearly every field, and for some fields—e.g., history and the life sciences—for much longer than that), any faculty member nearly anywhere is going to have to be pretty solid. The main thing you’ll have to worry about, in all honesty, isn’t the general quality of the faculty member, but whether the faculty are stretched overly thin.
At most colleges across the country, teaching loads are very high but research expectations are low to moderate, with high “service” loads (e.g., serving on departmental or university committees or the like). At the Ivies and similar schools, teaching and service loads are low but research expectations are (insanely) high.
At most state flagships, including Alabama, teaching loads are relatively low, service loads are moderate, and research expectations are high.
Basically, everybody’s overworked, they’re just overworked in different ways. As far as time they can focus on student achievement, though, I’d say the faculty at Ivy-like schools and state flagships are in the best circumstances (aside, perhaps, from some liberal arts colleges) and pretty much evenly matched, given my observation. (Of course, for both, given the employment incentives they’re faced with, research will be the main focus.)