Chiming in again! I just checked the price of the instate school my son graduated from, (UNH) it was 31,528 for the 2015-16 year. Easy to add up big loans with the high cost. I think some parts of the country are not as pricey, but here in the northeast that is the standard rate.
the public university dd graduated from this year shows the 2019/2020 yearly coa at $23004 BUT almost 15K of that is for living expenses. by opting not to live in the dorms beyond any required period of time (after dd started they began to require freshman to live on campus-we avoided that thankfully) a student can save a tremendous amount. we've got college apartments that cater to the students-they can catch a bus or shuttle that drops them off in front of the university buildings so they have a shorter walk than the dorm students (and they can leave their cars at their no charge for parking apartments whereas the dorm kids pay hefty parking fees each year just to leave their cars parked on campus).