I agree to have your daughter do a lot of the research on this. I also caution you not to jeopardize your own retirement. On the other hand, it is actually a huge mental releif to me to know that I can contribute to securing my children's future in a way that my parents could never have done. I will help my kids as much as I can.
It seems to me that tuitions are even more out of reach now than when I was a student, and it was hard enough then.
There are so many scholarships nowadays. My oldest just graduated from a school that is below average in nationally normed tests
yet dozens and dozens of scholarships were awarded to these kids. (I am so greatful to the individuals, foundations and public bureaucracies that fund these scholarships!) One of the more "interesting" scholarships mine got was one set aside for engineering aspirants from our city. Cool, huh? Two others were for specific but not currently popluar areas of engineering that he was interested in. We did not have to look for these; the schools just automatically made the link.
If your child really is medical school material, I suspect it shows already and that she will be offered scholarships for undergraduate. There were few scholarships that my child applied for separately from his admissions applications. There were many he was automatically considered for just by applying. And he was awarded plenty. Tuition was covered, it was just a matter of covering other expenses.
I suggest that you sign up for "college night" offered by different schools. Your own school may have one, other schools might, too. Some are open to all comers. The type to look for is one where there are counselors to show you the ropes, to give you some suggested timelines, record-keeping ideas, lists of good sources. Usually schools focus college nights on seniors, but you are wisw to start now.
Oh, we were surprised to find that schools that are really trying to recruit the student send fee-waived applications. And I think most schools now waive application fees if one applies online. There are also consortiums of schools where one makes a single application and it goes to multiple schools....This is some of the stuff you can learn about at college nights.