Dear bdn,
I'll rephrase. The last thing you want to do is to send your kid to college and they hate it there. Maybe because the school is too small, the town is socially dead, or the weather sucks, i.e. if you love snow skiing or waterskiing or gardening and you're in the opposite climate for that.
Choosing a college for your kid and saying "Here's where you're going",(like it or not) is a TERRIBLE idea. Yet you seem fine with that. If my son was a great golfer and loved the game, certainly I wouldn't force him to a college in New England, even if he got a academic scholarship!
One other thing I havn't mentioned yet is internships. A great way to get a job is to do a summer intern at a LOCAL company. If they like you, they will offer you a job after graduation, probably in the SAME TOWN as your college is in.
I'll repeat what I said in the above post and maybe you can grasp the concept this time..I said..."I think it is important to go to a college near a town or city where you might want to live after college, because a lot of interviewing companies are local to the school."
Chance are good that your first job will be in that same town, cause that's where the job contacts usually are, from campus interviews or alumni. It helps to set a nice table before you start eating! LOL!