CHICAGO—Since he was in fourth grade, Dennis Nolte’s stepson Jacob has been tacking Massachusetts Institute of Technology posters to his bedroom wall and dreaming of attending someday.
But now that Jacob is 18 and applying to colleges, Nolte has delivered an uncomfortable message: “If manna comes from heaven, and you get enough scholarships, you can go to MIT,” Nolte told him. “Otherwise, getting a good education that’s cheap and affordable in-state makes more sense.”
