<p>Sure, Hunt, compare U. Mich. to St. Thomas and to Drake, and you’ll see that there are substantially fewer average kids at the University of Michigan and a greater percentage of high-achieving kids (above 700 SAT M and CR), particularly if you look at math scores. Nearly 100 percent of U. Mich. kids come from the top quarter of their classes, compared with 74 percent at Drake and 55 percent at St. Thomas (all this from collegedata.com). The way I look at it, that suggests it would be more of a challenge for a top student to find his or her peer group at Drake or St. Thomas, but not “needle-in-a-haystack” challenging. Looked at one way, the ready availability of tippy-top students at U. Mich. would be worth the price. Looked at another way, a family might expect a child to be willing to take on the challenge of finding a peer group at a lower-ranked institution for a cost differential of anywhere from $88K to $120K over four years.</p>