For Computer Science, at What Point is it Advisable to Consider Cost or Prestige?

He may want to reconsider Purdue, maybe apply and see what happens. Of these four colleges, they do best wrt FAANG and then probably Maryland (Google co-founder went there).

First off, CS is not a major where you need a grad degree, as others have pointed out. When you say reset, are you implying cancelling the four years at UA and replacing with more or better knowledge? Reset usually implies changing fields, not unlearning what you did in undergrad. There are a lot of good suggestions on this thread, I’d say apply to USC (potential scholarships), UT-Austin, maybe a couple schools that give merit - Case, RPI and take it from there. You want to be in a position to compare financial aid packages or if you’re full-pay, compare the costs.