The options I considered were:
1.) Ivy League
2.) Smaller, 2nd tier private college, with incentives for in-state students.
3.) Private military academy, where my Dad went
4.) My main state university.
Since my parents were kind of lower-middle class, #1 was mostly covered by financial aid, so the real differences in cost between that and the state university were only a couple thousand a year. The doors that having that name on the top of my piece of paper opens are well worth it.
Options that would have been suicidal, financially:
A.) 2nd or 3rd tier, out-of-state non-Ivy private school - most are still in that 40-50k price tag range, without the endowments to offer the same financial aid packages.
B.) Out-of-state tuition at another state university - again, price tag in the 30-50k range, no subsidy, reduced prestige
Though i went to college, I'd recommend people who don't have a wild passion towards a specific subject (if the outlook is cloudy I mean) earn, save and buy a house in cash.
And in regards to passion, I don't mean necessary a love for something, I mean a drive to REALLY get good. If you don't have that for school, then work, earn and make yourself a good situation so you can get education with disposable income when the passion comes.
College education has quite a lot of worth, but that worth is much less than it used to be and the price is much more than it used to be.
A degree that has some value is useless if obtaining it costs you twice as much as that value.
This is demonstrably false, and a college education is still the best bet a person can make on his or her future. In the same breath people say "all our manufacturing jobs went to China" and "why not go to a vocational school and pick up welding?"