My son graduated from USC in three years and, even better, he has an amazing job that he starts in July! Oh--and I have two kids. My daughter just blew me away with her SAT score so I won't have to use the "side door" for her either and pay half a million to get her in somewhere.
They are way ahead of where I was at their age. And I live in Colorado so get to use its awesome hiking trails every day. Life is good.