I can't really speak about the Columbia's. Only that when we were looking at WashU in stl, they were offering us poors $50000 off of $78000. We really didn't pursue past that offer.
Scholarships are out there. The key is the shotgun approach. Apply for as many as your kids can churn out. My youngest took an elective class in hs that worked on applying for scholarships.
Instate Uk Tuition/Room/Bd/Fees is just under $30000/yr.
Tuition is 10x what it was my 1987 freshman year,
My oldest has been maxxing out scholarships and has been +$6000 after T/R/B/F have been paid. Not sure of his exact gpa, but he only had one B in hs and 33 act. Those are good numbers, but not over the top. I think 4-5 kids had a perfect act in my county.
We move my youngest into uk next week. His hs grades weren't as strong, nor his act(3.75/26). But he has so many $1000/$2000/$3000 scholarships. His biggest was $5000. We had a $3000 come through just last week after not having any additional since May.
He's within $1000 of paying for his freshman year T/R/B/F with scholarships/kees. Only $6000 of that was non renewable.