So confused...need advice!

My son also had some of the same kind of decisions as your son. We as a family decided it would be best to stay local. This alone saved him between 30 to 40 thousand dollars. We provide a car, gas and food. For us the difference between the local junior college and the D3 he chose was going to be about $1,000. Academically the D 3 school is known for it's science programs...lots PHD professors in his major. My son had a 4.0 coming out of high school so he was given a lot of academic money. He qualified for other monetary awards. He took care of business his freshman year and got himself a 1000.00 engineering scholarship. It was a no brainer financially, academically and they showed him the most love of all schools recruiting him.
It sounds like your son has some interesting choices...a top 10 D3 school in baseball is very intriguing to me. Are any of the schools local ?My son also wanted to go away...we strongly discouraged that kind of debt. We reached out to a local D2 school where my son would have been able to get academic and athletic money...they had just signed a first baseman( who my son had better numbers than) so it wasn't meant to be. Financially it sounds like the Junior college might be a good fit. Are any of them local ?
I would like to add that my husband and I work full time but our son qualified for some financial assistance. That helped close the gap between the Junior college and the D3.