Facing a real problem as of late. Live in NY and have been accepted to SUNY Buffalo, Binghamton and Stony Brook. Also accepted to out of state schools such as Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland College Park, UMass Amherst, and UConn. All the out of state schools are considerely expensive and I would be in a considerable amount of debt after graduation like 70-100k in debt. I have always wanted to go to one of these bigger OOS schools but is it worth it? Also, I want to major in computer science since that is another factor.
They’re not really better. Maybe UMCP for CS, but Stony Brook is good as well.
You are comparing big state schools to big state schools. No need to pay more to go out of state. You have choices that are in various parts of the state if you want to be not too close to home. Choose which of the SUNYs have the best computer science programs.
You can’t take on $70-100k worth of debt. Students can only borrow ~$27k over 4 years. The extra $40-70k would have to be borrowed by your parents. That’s not a good idea.
The SUNYs are good schools. Did you get scholarships to any or are your costs relatively even? Have you toured them? Stony Brook is known as a suitcase school (kids go home on weekends), but it’s also known for being a very good school. Binghamton and Buffalo are as well. Can you attend their accepted students’ day(s)? Maybe that will help you decide.
Interesting insight and yeah I will be visiting some SUNYs soon. For the parent plus loan, can one transfer those loans to myself after graduating college?
Those OOS schools are not significantly better, unless as someone said, there is a specific major that is ranked much higher than any of the SUNY schools.
The answer to the general question is that it depends on your family situation how much debt you should take.
100K of debt is 25K per year. That indicates that your parents are not chipping in, or the OOS schools are giving you nowhere near enough to make up for your family’s EFC.
In either case, it is insane to take on 100K of debt, especially if, as you imply, there is no parental financial support. My son is taking on about 30K of debt for four years, but we are paying a lot for his college, taking out our own debt, plus we can help him pay back his student loans after college if he needs it.
Parent Plus loans are generally a bad idea. If your parents have equity in their house, they should consider taking out a home equity line of credit if they don’t have one.
Are the OOS schools 25K short of covering up to your family’s EFC? Or can your family not afford their EFC?
None of those OOS schools are top 10 in CS, so don’t kid yourself: you won’t be paying a premium for a far better education but for a luxury experience (in as much as a big state school can be a luxury experience).
But if you really want to experience a big OOS state school, you can attend a SUNY and go to one for a year through National Student Exchange (google that).
Go to a SUNY. None of the other places get you anything better. I applied SUNY and reach and I did not apply to anyplace you mentioned because I did not see the point. Plus I know more than one person who went to Maryland and did not like it. Not in to any reach yet. It is debateable whether the HYPS are worth debt let alone Maryland.
Last year friend got into UMass and not Binghamton
Agreed, none of these are better. If you meant Berkeley or something, maybe. FWIW a lot of MA kids want to get away from UMass!! The grass is not greener. No way would I take on loans to send my kid to SUNY and your parents should not do that either to send you to UMass.
No undergraduate school on the planet is worth 70-100k in debt, period.
UMass Amherst does have an edge for CS, but IT IS NOT worth 70k in debt!
No, your parents will be saddled with any debt above the federal limit, ie., you’ll be able to borrow $5,500 for freshman year, then $6,500 for sophomore year, and finally $7,500 for each of junior and senior years. And everything else will be on your parents - provided they qualify (and they have to qualify every year!)
SUNYs are excellent colleges and as PurpleTitan said, look into National Student Exchange 
if you want to live at another college for a year. You’d be able to attend universities as diverse as UArizona, or Cal State SLO or Florida International U or New College or UGA or UMass Amherst or Texas State or U Washington!
(Umass, Cal Poly SLO, and UWashington would be tops for a year-long CS exchange junior year.)
I don’t see why $70,000-100,000 of debt is anywhere close to worth it. Stony Brook is a perfectly good school for CS.