<p>I was in a near identical situation about 5 years ago. I ended up choosing UF for CS over a very expensive but more highly ranked school. I think it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I was able to graduate with no debt, the classes were plenty hard and thus kept my interest, and I think the CS department at UF has a good sense of community… Lots of smart people and programming related clubs, etc. I think no debt was the biggest thing for me because it allowed me to do whatever I wanted when I graduated, instead of forcing my hand to take a high paying job in a big city to pay back loans (but if a job like that is what you seek, I know a lot of people from UF ended up at big companies on the west coast). From what I’ve seen, the classes (especially at the undergrad level) are more or less the same at any university, so it’s really what you make of it.</p>