I agree with unkyUb that the DSLR is the way to go if your budget allows.
Much better quality of lens compared to bridge or compacts........the down side of course is that the standard lens that comes with the camera body is fine for general work, but if you are serious about macro/wildlife stuff then further lenses need to be bought....and they don't come cheaply...
If your budget will allow only a bridge, two things to consider :-
1) Do not be seduced by super zoom lenses with a vast focal length range. Tempting, I know t have something like 28mm to 400mm in one lens........but the engineering of such a beast means making compromises on quality.
Such lenses will suffer badly from barrel and pincushion distortions, flair, loss of contrast, and a softening of acuity.
These problems may not worry the average snapper too much, but you say that your daughter is taking an imaging course where, presumably, quality of image will be important.
Also, unkyUb makes a very valid point.....these super zooms when extended to their max. can be very long, unwieldy things, and the whole thing very front heavy.....not so easy to balance or hold steady.
2) Do not be seduced by huge pixel counts. A lot of these bridge cameras have small, half sized sensors.........and lots of pixels on a small sensor means small pixels.......with the resultant loss of image quality in terms of definition and colour rendition.
