@twoinanddone You can’t compare NE public schools to the midwestern publics. There is a history that led to a very different culture in these areas. Long ago, when there were very few colleges in the US, when the first publics were being created, colleges like Harvard, Yale and others lobbied hard against creation of competition in MA, NY etc. This restricted funding for SUNY and UMass etc whereas in other places such as MI there was no such lobbying effort. One would think by now the northeastern publics could have overcome this, but they are not fully recovered. Just yesterday the NY Times published a report on CUNY
NY 's goal is to educate many at low cost, but not always with such high quality. I tried sending my kid to CUNY honors college, and the info in the above article was true. He transferred to an elite private and I am paying now. Other SUNY schools we looked at, spent on dorms more than academics. Believe me, wish I could spend < 1/2 the cost of education and have my kids in CUNY/SUNY. Not an elitism issue, an issue of opportunity at a price, the question is if one can afford the opportunity and/or gets aid/scholarships. If we could not afford, could have lived with an adequate education, but that is what it is, adequate. Having same kid in a top private and underfunded public gave us first hand insight. S2 going straight to elite private too, not going to waste a year experimenting again.