Ok, @ucbalumnus, I’ll bite.
My DS chose SJSU ($25k/yr) over colleges such as LMU ($55k/yr) and chapman ($40k/yr) (after merit awards) and UCSD and Syracuse.
We are full pay and would be happy to have paid for private college. Also DS has attended elite private k-12 ed to the tune of $35k/yr. He is going no frills because of the strength of SJSU in his major, animation. He definitely feels more “familiar” with the type of student body at chapman. He is an easygoing an flexible guy tho and can do fine in any environment. Had he gotten accepted into USC, then he would have chosen usc over SJSU, so there is some prestige/no frills line drawn somewhere. And yes, my DS applied to both upenn and CSULA.