I would strongly encourage anyone near college age to consider their local community college. An intro to chemistry class, for example, is the exact same course whether it's at the community college or at the much more expensive university.
Get the basics out of the way at a community college, then transfer to a university for the upper level courses.
The only possible exception I'd make to that is for engineering majors. It's tougher to transfer in to an engineering program as an upperclassman than it is to get accepted there as a freshman.
Oh, and one more thing. Strongly encourage your kid to pick a local school, and commute from home. Independence and all that is fine, but room and board is very expensive. Why take on that debt if you don't really have to?
Many universities are no longer accepting credits from community colleges. They will require the student to retake the classes. Some may allow you to test out of a class, but many are starting to even disallow that.
It’s all about the money.
But you are right, years ago you could get your rhetoric classes done on the cheap at a community college.