It is a very individual decision as to what the parents can afford and what they are willing to contribute. Unfortunately in this economy many people have lost a lot of money in the market or are unemployed. If newspaper articles are to be believed some kids are graduating from their "dream schools" in massive debt. Unless you're a doctor,lawyer, or Wall Street professional how will you ever pay off several hundred thousand dollars?????
I told my son from the time he started to realize he wanted to play baseball in college (about 6th-7th grade) that we could not pay $50K/yr for him to play baseball. We really emphasized academics as a way to fill the gap that an athletic scholarship would not cover. Like RJM I had always heard there were far more academic dollars available. He worked really hard in high school to be a great student and it did pay off in a great academic scholly @ his college.
We all emphasize "fit" here in choosing where you want to play but if it's not affordable it's not a great fit.