As I’ve written before, We had not one cent of college savings before second semester of Happykid’s senior year of high school when we committed to clawing $500 out of our budget each month. Her options were the local CC or any place she could get down to that same cost. She only applied to the CC. She also picked up a full-tuition and fees merit scholarship there that mean we could save those two years of expenses to put toward the last two years at a state U. She graduated with just the junior and senior year federal loans which she has on autopayment.
Here is the kicker: Both Happykid and her BFF who were in high school, CC, and the same state U together, and then worked for three years before applying to grad school, received multiple admissions offers with full support for their MFAs. Each is now at her dream school, fully funded.
You do not need to go into debt for your kid to reach her goals. If she has the drive and focus necessary for medicine, she can be a pre-med wherever it is that your family finds affordable.