<p>Colorado School of Mines has a fantastic reputation, and the extra $5,000 per year may well be worth it. Then again, people graduate from CU Boulder every year in computer science and do as well as many (most?) graduates from the other schools you list. A lot of what determines how far you go in life is what you put into your college education, not where you went.</p>
<p>I’d say that it would be, in my mind, roughly a toss-up between Colorado School of Mines @ $15,000/yr and CU Boulder @ $10,000/yr. The other schools are too expensive and, barring some serious scholarships, there’s no way I’d consider going, or sending children of my own.</p>