@Rivet2000: That’s fair. That’s why English kids (for whom all English unis are the same cost) rarely turn down Oxbridge for some place else. And it’s rare that you hear people on CC urging kids who would get a lot of fin aid to turn down an elite private for a different school that would cost the same.
But as many colleges in the US practice differential pricing, cost/benefit trade-offs have to be weighed by many folks on CC.