Then in this case, especially you matter, moreso than the school. You can go anywhere and be CEO….but of course, very few do.
You may receive aid, you may not. It depends where you apply.
The question becomes - what can you afford?? You need a #. And I’ll disagree it’s not good (Ole Miss, although I’d say Ms. State is more reputed for STEM). I hear the same about UTK and yet I helped a student who had two fantastic internships (one in Nashville, one in KC with a dream type company) and now is in Seattle with a dream type company post graduation. He’s now doing a Masters.
My kid turned down Purdue MechE for Bama (unreputed). Interned twice (once in your state) and had 19 interviews and 5 offers by Xmas. If you work hard, you can be successful from anywhere - but it’s a lot of grind and rejection, no different than top schools by the way, especially in CS. My daughter (non-STEM) went to a regional school - and had no issue - internship with our state and in DC and now working (just graduated).
There’s never an assurance - but it’s the kid more than the school that matters.
In the end, we don’t know your test - and while you think you can get lots of aid (maybe you can), it’s the most competitive schools that assure to meet aid and you’re less likely. And many are need aware - meaning if you need too much, they can turn you down - so nothing to do with your academics.
My nephew is a poli sci grad at Arizona and works in CS in NYC (self studied a lot and passed some tests). There’s no - Ole Miss is bad, etc.
So - find out a # from your folks and consider your in-state options. If that’s all you can afford, that may be your only choice.
Once you have a test, we can see how that and your budget fit together.
What you’ve heard sounds nice and there’s some truth to it, but it’s not the entire truth.