While I’m inclined to agree with @Catcherinthetoast on ignoring the cost factor as your parents have advised, the only nuance I will add here as a parent of an in-state (and very happy) UCLA student is that it has been my observation from the UCLA Facebook Parent group that the OOS parents are very quick to get angry with the administration or the general bureaucracy of a huge public institution. They are quick to say: “we are paying all this money” when things as benign as broken washing machines and false fire alarms keep their kids from washing their sheets or from getting a full night’s sleep (this happens every year) to way more serious problems (such as what’s happening now with another TA strike—this one tied to the administration’s response on the breakup of the pro-Palestinian encampment).
In some ways I don’t blame them. If I were shelling out 75k a year rather than my 30-35k or so, I’d probably be quick to anger too. And these are situations that can happen at any institution, public or private. But if you feel you are paying way more than the value you are receiving, then you are apt to allow many things to frustrate you.
It’s just food for thought—not meant to sway a decision other than to encourage a conversation about how things can and will be annoying at times and that your folks go into it knowing that.