women's college or huge state school for stem?

I favor LACs in general for undergrads interested in science because of the close attention students receive both in the classroom and in the lab.

As for paying for grad school, you will get paid to receive your hard science degree in the better departments. You may need to be a TA in the non-hard sciences or departments with poorer external funding (i.e. govt grants).

MHC>UMD