“Your debate with your dad is hypothetical until you get admitted to a prestigious school.”
I think that it is also hypothetical until @caralhoman knows just how much debt is going to be needed for each school. A reasonable approach would be to apply to a range of schools, and see what the relative prices will be when the acceptances come in. At that point what @evergreen5 suggests is a good plan: List the schools and the total debt that would be needed for each (total for 4 years), and then a concrete comparison would be possible.