No, crippling debt is far worse than the “no freedom” of attending a very nice school that many kids would love to go to. And which is one of the best and most appealing options on the list anyhow.
If you think that is loss of freedom, how would you feel when your friends are buying houses and you can barely afford the rent on a run-down apartment, your friends are going out to eat and you decline because it’s not in your budget, your friends are talking about their vacation plans, and your vacation plan is to stay for free at your parents’ house. How would you feel when you get married and have kids and your kids have to attend a not-very-good school, not nearly as good as the one you now attend, because you cannot afford to move to a neighborhood with better schools. All because you didn’t want your parents to push one good college on you over a different good college. You seem extremely sheltered. I don’t think you have any concept of what starting out as a young person with a $250,000+ debt would mean.