Although we didn’t go into debt, we did spend a LOT on my son’s EC, especially the last two years when he was doing a lot of national and international competitions. But we certainly didn’t go into it with an eye towards scholarships, or even recruitment, it was just something he was very focused and passionate about, and I felt that if he was willing to put in the work, then I was willing to provide whatever support he needed to go as far as he could with it. Even if he had chosen not to compete in college, I still wouldn’t regret investing the time and money we did, because the personal growth and development, and the amazing experiences he had, were more than worth it.
When it came to college decisions, he chose a substantial scholarship package (athletic + academic money) at an OOS flagship over several elite private options that would have been full pay. Although lower ranked overall, the school he chose is ranked higher for his major (top 10) than the private options, and he felt that spending an extra $250K+ just for the prestige of an elite name was not worth it. If his choice had been between a full-pay private that was tops in his major, vs a scholarship to a much lower ranked program that did not have the academic resources he wanted, he would have gone with the private, but that choice would still be based on academics, not prestige.