<p>When comparing costs, be sure to consider the need- and/or merit-based grant you might receive from a private school. Use an on-line EFC estimator, for example. You don’t really know exactly how much a private will cost until you get the aid offer in April. Don’t be deterred from applying to private schools. However, they will still probably cost more than an in-state public. But, not $200 K more as someone in this thread suggested.</p>
<p>I think the culture, values, academic quality, opportunities, and peer role-models you would experience at a better university are worth paying for (if at all possible). I realize there are a lot of talented students out there who come from families with limited financial means. I have a gifted cousin who will probably wind up at SUNY Geneseo (the best SUNY) even though she is Ivy caliber. She is from a single-parent family. I don’t think she can even afford one of the NYS statutory colleges at Cornell. So, honors colleges do serve a purpose.</p>