It very much depends on what your kid wants to do after college. Having the imprimatur of a top 25 college is definitely an advantage for certain endeavors that value brand names. Plus there's a genuine networking advantage if your kid has the personality and social skills to take advantage of it. On the other hand, if they just want to get an MD and practice medicine, for example, I'm not sure it would be worth it. That is unless they want to do cutting edge research or aim to be some kind of upper management eventually, then the brand name and network could again confer an advantage. Also some top schools are better for certain career paths than others, So it really depends on your kid's specific situation.