Yes, totally agreed. I’m fairly unromantic–some would say cynical–about the economics of college, so to me it largely does not matter what they call a discount off full list price. And I do think it is good to know that if you are a competitive applicant for some pretty selective colleges, there are probably quite a few somewhat less selective colleges that might offer you a substantial discount, sometimes even stackable with need.
But then you should definitely put aside any labels and just try to understand what you would be getting for how much, and then pick whatever you see as your best offer. Which may not be what someone else would pick in your shoes, and that is totally fine.
Indeed, the big differences in average spending per student can be worth knowing about, but colleges also decide to spend their resources in different ways. So if College A spends $150K/student, but only like $50K in ways you would care about, and College B spends $100K/student, but more like $75K in ways you would care about, of course you could choose College B. Indeed, you might well pay more out of pocket for College B.
And although that is a pretty cold way of putting it, to me this is actually the fun part, figuring out which colleges prioritize the things you (or your kid if you are a parent) would actually value the most. And then you apply to a balanced list of those, get some affordable offers, and pick your favorite. And if you have done the work up front, hopefully they are all good choices.