The problem with looking at it this way is that there are a very small number of “free or close to it programs”. They are more selective than Harvard. But I agree that parents should not spring for programs they can’t afford, or for programs that they are just pushing their kids to because they think they are good for admissions. That is not to say that summer programs aren’t helpful. One of my kids went on a summer program where she got to spend a summer in a foreign country. She got a scholarship that covered most of it, but we had to pay some (maybe $1,000 total). That was worth doing for many reasons – she had studied the language for years, and it was an unusual experience that helped her decide where to study abroad later. Another kid went to the Davidson Institution THINK program – it was life changing for her, AND she talked about it in her college applications in a way that I think was very helpful to her admissions. One of my kids went to Operation Catapult (paid summer engineering program, but not super expensive) – very valuable to her because she figured out that she did NOT want to be an engineer. Summer programs aren’t all a waste of time and money, but they have to be more about your kid and their interests than about how they look on applications.