First, congratulations on your hard work and resulting successful applications! Best of luck with your future, you are at a great time of your life and have some exciting decisions ahead of you. You represent the best to come for this country, that’s something to think about!
For most people, once you get into the work world, your school becomes a moot point. Generally speaking, your performance, aptitude, motivation (and sometimes post grad degree) count for more. To put this into perspective: I have never, never been asked about my undergrad school (which incidentally is far from prestigious). I have been asked about my post grad (which is from one of the well known schools in the Boston area).
However, that’s not to say an undergrad degree from a very well recognized school doesn’t count for more compared to a lesser known one. There are some areas that buck this trend and will only look for Ivy school degrees (I think there are “Old Boy Networks”) but even then, I still think the trend is to want a post grad degree. Additionally, more prestigious schools do usually have a better alumni network which can be vital when entering the work world. And if you decide to settle in the New England area, then yes, these schools are better known at the undergrad level.
But… in all honesty, I don’t think Brandeis is prestigious; a very good school, yes, but not extremely well known -particularly in the work world. Outside New England (and even at times in it) it is not well recognized. Of course this is my opinion, and I’ll also say it applies to Tufts, BC, Northeastern and BU as well (sorry to those who disagree, again it’s my opinion). Where Brandeis and Tufts does excel is their academic reputation with other schools. Translation: if you want to do a post grad degree, then it’s a good place to be to gain access to even better known schools.
So, my advice* is this:
If you think you’re only going to have an undergrad degree, get it from a better value school. With the savings, use it to give yourself a debt free or lower debt start, or put it towards other important things for life.
If you or your family has excessive amounts of money and are able to afford the costs (and it sounds like sadly you do not) then sure, go ahead. And then use your family money to get a post grad degree from a really prestigious institution!
If you really want to do a post grad degree (and it’s hard to know when you are so young) and you have a very specific area of study, it may, just may, be worthwhile.
At this point I might also say that how much you like Brandeis should come into play; after all if you think you really, really, really want to go there, it may be worth it to bite the bullet and accept you’ll need to spend more. But $20-25K a year more? I’d say not. That much money can substantially kick start your career in other ways.
*not professional advice, not intended to be, and keep in mind it’s very, very general, and there are always exceptions. If you parse the above carefully, note the use of the words “generally speaking”, “sometimes”, “my opinion” and “usually”. Also add in my bias that a post grad or specialist degree is usually (uh oh, there’s that word again!) a really good investment, but that may greatly be affected by your area of study.