@foodwishes: Ah . . . returning to the your fundamental question, I would add one point that has not been mentioned. Virginia (I have lived in Fairfax for decades) has a wonderful public higher educational system, with UVa, Tech, William and Mary, JMU, and other fine – and quite inexpensive – schools. HOWEVER – and this is my key point – depending on the OP’s financial circumstances, it can be just (or more) affordable to attend first-quality private institutions. Many high school students (and their parents) automatically assume that in-state public education is axiomatically less costly, but that is plainly false, with almost all of the most-selective universities having very generous, readily available, need-based grants.
None of the foregoing suggests that the OP’s right, smart answer isn’t UVa, Tech, W&M, etc. However, it might be wise for the OP to use the Net Price Calculator (for schools including the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Washington/StL, Hopkins, Rice and so forth), just to ascertain how their “actual” costs would roughly compare to Virginia’s fine public universities.