<p>I’ll follow up MD Mom’s suggestion to look at where grads go with a related suggestion to chat/email with some professors at Bing in the fields you’re interested in. Ask them if they’ve sent students on to grad programs, and where. I will bet you that they will mention highly motivated and capable students who go on to excellent grad programs. It’s your graduate institution that matters, not the undergrad. </p>
<p>Public Policy and Education aren’t fields that generally result in big bucks, so keeping your debt low is going to give you greater options in the working world. With no or low debt you don’t have to worry about choosing work which will allow you to pay back big debt. </p>
<p>That said, I have a warm place in my heart for Swarthmore as a special academic and intellectual experience in its own right (not from personal experience, though). I’d think it was worth $20k of debt, but not $100k.</p>