<p>cewillm - Those are two different issues. I agree that it is best to graduate with as little debt as possible. I don’t believe that parents and kids should take on an enormous amount of debt in order to choose a private school. There may be exceptions depending on the major. I disagreed with your statement that state schools are liberal with aide and that the OP would probably get half of the in state tuition. My D was accepted at 2 private schools, 3 OOS public schools and one in state public. The merit and talent scholarships she received at the private schools put them in the same range as the OOS publics. There was very little offered from any of the state schools.</p>