I had my children go to the city college to get the basic courses behind them. The boy HATED it! He did the basics, got his Asc degree, and ran for the hills. The girl LOVED it. She worked hard, took the English 101 and Math 101 type courses for a fraction of what the private colleges wanted, and even ended up on the deans list which netted her a scholarship for 3 years running. She then decided to move onto a more private type setting, and with the help of couselors, and those in the know, she was able to qualify for exisiting scholarships based on her grades, and income levels on her own.

Have you considered city colleges to get the basics behind them at a fraction of the cost? Those credits, and courses easily transfer to the higher up schools once the basic courses are over. $4k for english/math/science/ and so forth prep classes was certainly easier on my budget than $40K.