<p>Colorado State has some departments that are better than Boulder’s. And it offers fabulous opportunities as well. I know an engineering major who worked for two summers at NASA. </p>
<p>Most state schools offer good academics, and many are reasonably priced. For one, it’s so hard to get a job in academia, that many of even smaller state campuses boast Ivy PhDs among their full time, tenure/tenure-track faculty. And it’s hard to keep a job (get tenure) even at state schools, so these will be engaged, published professors. If you’re more academically inclined, more outgoing than the majority of students, it may be easier to stand out, and to receive individual attention at a state school than at a school filled with overachievers.</p>