<p>I definitely appreciate the message of the OP that it is less important that you go to the best school, provided you go to a good school. One point that I would like to add to the discussion, is that many states have reciprocity agreements with other states. Had I realized that the Western Undergraduate Exchange existed as a high school senior, I may well have attended a different school. These agreements reduce the tuition costs to around in state tuition for people in neighboring/regional areas. I know that individual states also have these kind of compacts. Beyond WUE, I am afraid I don't really know of any others, but google does.</p>