@techmom99 I grew up not to far from Stony Brook and wholeheartedly agree. To be fair most of the SUNY schools are hideously ugly. Stony Brook had the added distinction of being the school most likely to be abandoned on weekends (laundry for mom in the back of the car).
I also agree with following the money. College is more about what you make of it and field of study than the resources or quality of the school. I’ve experienced school debt and learned first-hand that free education is almost always better. I shudder each time someone poses the question of which school their child should attend, the perfectly good top one hundred school for free or the higher ranked school for 50 to 70k per year. Is this just a backhanded brag, are they rich, or are they just ignorant about school debt?
I’ve also been involved with hiring engineers, and computer scientists and while quality of the school has some sway, experience always trumps school name.