How about a school on the West Coast? There are obviously a lot of great CS schools there, but there are two problems:
- You would have good odds of acceptance at top state schools (e.g. UCs, UW, Cal Poly) -- but as an out-of-stater, you wouldn't get any financial aid.
- You would be eligible for financial aid at top private schools (e.g. Stanford, Caltech, USC, Harvey Mudd) -- but the odds of acceptance would be low (i.e. these schools are reaches for practically everyone).
For a possible West Coast match, how about Santa Clara University?
- located in the heart of Silicon Valley, great location for CS
- highly regarded for CS and engineering
- popular alternative to UCs with out-of-staters, because it offers financial aid
- 690 - 770 Math SAT in engineering school, competitive with most UCs
- generous 55% acceptance rate to engineering school
- small classes, high 4-year graduation rate
- Religious (Catholic) school, Greek life is banned, reserved party scene
- But also Jesuit, so non-Catholics are welcome, and about 50% of enrollment
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/7791/screen/19
Out-of-staters often overlook SCU, because it is listed as a “Regional University”, rather than as a “National University”, in the US News ranking. The “regional/national” distinction is actually based on the size of doctoral programs, which have historically been small at SCU. Ironically, SCU is much more “national” than any UC in terms of its undergraduate enrollment – the UCs cap out-of-state enrollment at around 20%, while SCU is about 50%.
Main downside to SCU is that it is not as wealthy as the other CA privates listed above. So while you would be eligible for financial aid, it might still not meet your criteria for affordability.