Broadly speaking, I would expect any student to really enjoy their first year at an LAC while those at large state universities might be a bit overwhelmed during their first year.
@Midwest67 - I’m dealing with this with D20 now. She has her mind made up about where she wants to go and we are telling her that $ will be a determining factor. Even though decisions days will include/omit some choices I don’t think she wants to accept this.
@Coun2316 We are in the exact same situation, We have receive some merit aid but have just started receiving decisions. We are hoping for some full ride options by spring. Brown is one of D20 's first choices as well.
I loved every year at UT-Austin. 
All six - BS and MS.
My recommendation, learned the HARD WAY, is to decide what you are willing to spend and let your kid know ASAP.
We had 3 full tuition offers on the table, one full ride, and 3 other acceptances to schools we simply could not afford despite generous aid.
Half of full pay sounds nice until your brain registers it is still north of $125K for four years and there is no way to pay for it except parent loans.
The 3 full tuition offers were not even close to equal in the bottom line COA but sort of sounded the same to our D.
She was so unhappy she was not going to be attending one of the more prestigious schools that accepted her, and so salty about the remaining affordable choices that it seemed unwise to do anything but “force” her to take the full ride.
Of course, it’s nice if there are one or two safeties on the list that your kid would be happy to attend. But in our case? She was just going through the motions in applying. She did not want to attend any of those affordable schools and she was hoping that if she got accepted, we would move heaven and earth to pay for it. She even asked if she could borrow all the money herself. Bless her 18 yo heart.
Beware of the cultural narratives out there. Your kid WILL hear people say things like:
“Well. We cannot afford it, but we think a good education is so important. We are going to find a way to make it happen for her.”
“Just apply! You never know what will happen!” <–FA packages
“We’ll just have to borrow. Everyone does! We are so proud she got into U of XYZ! I’ll guess I’ll just retire later than I wanted!”
Set your kid straight about the financial realties in your house as soon as you can.
I will say, it was HARD sending an unhappy kid off to college, and have her be unhappy almost the entire first year.
I will sometimes ask myself what would have happened if we had really stretched ourselves and unwisely borrowed…martyr!..and she was STILL unhappy and not at all the slightest bit appreciative because she is so young & doesn’t get what our financial lives are like?
It will alllllll be in the rearview mirror before you know it.
@Midwest67, Thanks. Yes she knows how much we are willing to pay and she knows that loans are off the table. However, that doesn’t stop her from pouting despite the fact that she is one of the loves of my life, kind, smart, talented etc. She also asked if she could take out the loans herself if she gets into her dream school and the answer was absolutely not. I know she will thank us later. I know that some parents will make it work. I explained to her that I can not have her sitting in a corner café sipping on a latte while her dad and I are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for each meal. Not to mention that we are older parents ( offspring are 38, 31, 28 & 17) and hubby is contemplating retirement in the next few years.
D19 just finished her first semester at Hamilton today. The experience to date has far exceeded our expectations. She is happy, thriving, making friends and having great academic success so far.
She is also a member of a sports team and that group of girls is by far the best experience she has yet had in sports. Tremendously supportive and caring about one another.
The classes she has had so far have been excellent with great interaction with her professors. The facilities are beautiful, the food good and the roommates all get along. She is in probably the worst of the freshman dorms so that might be a low point but it hasn’t bothered her at all and the roommates more than make up for that.
She knew clearly what she wanted, went for it and Hamilton has proved her right.
My D17 is at LMU and loves it. Great classes, connected professors/mentors, great social life. I don’t know that she has any complaints (OK, food was one, but she’s off campus now) and the hardest part has been limiting herself…she keeps finding majors and minors she wants to take on!
D19 is at Elon and also loving it. Similar to above, he enjoys his classes, they fit him academically, has found his circle of friends and feels at home there. Was asked to TA next semester which was a nice confidence booster for a first semester freshman. Is getting bored with the food but I’ve eaten there…it’s pretty amazing and his meal plan also has lots of retail options.
Both kids have many local friends at our very local, very huge flagship public, and reports are very positive from those kids and their parents too, I am happy to report.
I personally am a fan of mid sized schools for my particular kids and so far they are proving to be great choices. BTW, both of these schools were “instant hits” for the kids at the very first visit, and things only got better after that first impression.
@TS0104 Glad your kids are happy! Did I read correctly that a sophomore undergrad with be a TA at Elon? What does that mean exactly?
D17 is a Junior at Purdue, MechE plus a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. It was her first choice and she’s quite happy. She was right in the middle of admission stats and I’m guessing she is just slightly above middle of her class in GPA.
She was offered, and already accepted, a summer position at an F200, F Most Admired company - one of her top two choices after job fairs, and just turned down a second offer.
She’s quite quiet/shy so I was very glad she made a friend at Freshman camp which has grown to a group of 10 that came over for a holiday dinner before finals.
She’s headed to Japan in the Spring, fulfilling a desire to study abroad (I think it will make 20 countries, along with 30 states she’s visited). overall, things are going quite well.
D22 will be a different kettle of fish. Super high stats, not sure whether MIT or Stanford is her #1 now, and thinks CMU is her fallback (3x legacy, has been attending programs on campus since kindergarten). She’ll be much pricier.
@Sarrip hang in there! Been there, done that with DD’19 and already got the Thank You letter 
Some strategies that helped: Having some of our discussions over email instead of in person. Talking about how being debt free could help her live like she wanted to the rest of her life. Working on finding things to like about her affordable option- she had good visits, talked to her alumni aunts, reviewed the course catalog, joined the FB group.
She did come around and her attitude and perspective also just changed a lot over senior year for a variety of reasons. But she still wasn’t “all in” until she got there. Now she thinks it is the perfect place!
We’re at the back end of this process. D1 HS class of '13, graduated a bit under 2 years ago with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue. It was a great place for her to get her education and take advantage of opportunities to coop, mentor, and do research. She is now working for a major chemical company and had her job lined up in September of her super senior year (5th year because of coop but only 8 semesters of classes).
D2 HS class of '16, took a very different path. She is bright and had good grades and scores but she knew where she wanted to go to school and what she wanted to happen. She wanted to be a Physical Therapist and she wanted to dance. She chose Ohio University. She is a senior entering her final semester. She will graduate with a BA in Dance and a minor in Biology. She was just accepted into Ohio University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program and will start in May. She took a (well informed) chance and only applied to OU for graduate school.
@Sarrip If I may share what my s20 said to us…he was deciding between a pricey elite (would have applied ED) and our state flagship (already accepted). The only difference in his mind was the prestige factor. We are fortunate and could have handled the full pay, but naturally liked the flagship cost. We were urging him to apply ED to the elite school because he had researched it to do death and it really was a good fit. But so is the flagship.
He told us that having his parents pay $75k would put enormous pressure on him to love it. At the flagship, he would have no such pressure and could just find his way there and not have to be SURE that he loves it. Maybe that would help?
S16 is in his senior year at Stanford studying CS. For him, Stanford has been nothing short amazing, with a wealth of opportunities both academic and social. He recently turned down a job offer, opting instead to pursue a masters. He’s also become immersed in the SV tech culture working part time for a stealth startup.
S17 is a Junior at Kansas State and loves it. His grades are tip top and has an early acceptance to vet school there and will start it next fall 2020. He was president of his large fraternity this past year, has been an LA (like an undergrad TA) in Physics for a year and a half, and does research at the vet school. He will be a TA in anatomy and physiology next semester. He also got to do a mini term study abroad in Switzerland. He loves the size of the school. It is a semi-large school but feels much smaller. He loves the town and the area. Next summer he has an internship with a vet in West Virginia. All has been good. Only think he hasn’t loved is the health center because it seems hard to get in when you need it.
@cypresspat & @bjscheel Thank you so much for input. I’m going to end responses to my comment so I don’t get accused of highjacking a thread again 
My daughter is a freshman at the College of Wooster in Ohio. She’s doing very well academically and seems very happy. She is also a varsity athlete. She chose Wooster for the opportunity to play her sport. Her parents encouraged Wooster because of the small class sizes and diverse community. Her only complaint is the food. There’s not as many healthy choices as she’s used to.
@Snowman66 we visited Wooster (S21) in November and liked it a lot (but not so much the dining hall…though we aren’t expecting to love most college food options, I suppose). Glad to hear the positive review.
Very positive experience so far! Staff and faculty have been great. No issues with selecting courses and getting her time table to work with her sport. There seems to be lots of happy students at Wooster.