Well, I think you really CAN compare NE attitudes toward public schools with Midwestern (or southern, or California) attitudes. In NE, children may not be brought up expecting to go to UMASS or UCONN or a SUNY, but in other areas that’s exactly what happens. In Texas, UT is often the first choice. In Michigan and Wisonsin, the flagships are the goal. Not everyone goes to the flagship, but no one thinks those who do have made a lesser choice.
No judgment. I know people from NE, and have seen many who post here, who consider the big publics in the NE states as unacceptable, as horrible schools they’d never send their kids to. That attitude just doesn’t exist in Wisconsin or Michigan or Texas. When I lived in Florida, same thing. UF or FSU was the first choice, not a fall back if a better school didn’t come along. Did everyone go to UF? No, but those who did were considered the smartest kids, not those who can’t get into or afford other schools. Kids do go to Duke and Emory and MIT, and that’s great, but there aren’t big oohs and aahs that those are better than UF, just different choices.