In-state tuition at one of our state universities $12,000 per year for an undergraduate degree. Housing costs the same. So by your metric no one is going to college unless they can pony up for it.
I’m suggesting $12k limit per year, and a total of $48k for four years.
A good example here, if you attended Auburn Univ in Alabama, the semester tuition (alone) is $5,700. Out-of-state? $15,500 per semester. It makes no sense for a out-of-state kid to go to the Auburn program, even if it has the best electrical engineering degree program in the nation.
However, for room and board...because of the rural nature of Auburn, the cost is around $6k per semester.
If a kid was smart and did two years of community college in Alabama (living out of the dad’s basement) and then only spent two years at Auburn to wrap up his electrical engineering degree, the whole bill for four years would only end up in the $50,000 range.
What these kids are missing is an economic lay-out of the cost, the future earnings, and the unwise decision to do a out-of-state situation.