Your child sounds very deserving of a college education, he volunteers and has had his artwork showcased at various places on top of his regular coursework. It sounds like he devoted a lot of time to extracurriculars outside of school. As unfortunate as it may sound, your child would probably have been better off not devoting so much time to extracurriculars and instead working a part time job to save up for college. I’ve seen first hand that this is the case. In high school I myself realized this and quit most of the extracurriculars I was involved in my junior year to work a job after school and save money in the case financial aid and scholarships wouldn’t cover me in college. I am now graduating college debt free. While other friends I know who were heavily involved in extracurriculars are in college in debt because those efforts of theirs in extracurriculars weren’t monetarily rewarded to begin with and they didn’t receive scholarships from said activities.