MidAtlanticDad,
FWIW....I also have a 2015 academic borderline kid that I'm considering for HeadFirst next year. I've already told him he doesn't have the grades for a majority of these schools and he has not taken the SAT/ACT yet. I expect HeadFirst to be in the same $1000 neighborhood in next year. While expensive, the showcase has significant value as we have seen with our older sons. So, the gauntlet has been put down to him this academic year. His choices are to :
1)improve his grades and nail his SAT/ACT so Mom and Dad pick it up the tab,
2)pay for it himself
3)look at other showcases.
HeadFirst is not a right, it is a privilege and it must be earned as it was with his older brothers. He's quickly learning that a strategy and plan has to be in place before Mom and Dad start writing checks.