Personally, the best decision I ever made was going to a community college for two years and transferring to a university.

1. It was dirt cheap compared to a 4-year.

2. It was actually better instruction than the respectable 4-year university I transferred to afterward. I was worried I'd be behind, but it was clearly an advantage to get more attention with smaller class sizes and professors that aren't expected to be publishing academic papers instead of teaching. I was much better prepared than the kids who had been there 2 years

3. Universities love transfer students, they don't drop out at the rates of incoming freshman and they need to replace the kids that can't hack it and drop out in those graduating classes. Do well you can go most anywhere you want.

4. Many people don't know what they want to do, or only think they do. I changed my major twice at community college, this is very hard to do at university, they want to graduate you ASAP and open up the slot

A lot of kids want the whole social part of the 4-year university experience, so maybe your daughter would not be interested in this option, but I really had a great experience at community college. I think many people go the traditional route just because they think its 'the thing to do', but this option might be really great for some people, so I thought I'd throw that out there if you guys are doing the whole college planning thing, because I don't think very many people consider this unless they aren't accepted into college, but that doesn't need to be the case.