Financial aid is better at big name schools (Score 2, Informative)

Harvard, Yale and MIT have all come out with very strong financial incentives this year. Essentially free for families making $75,000 and large financial aid for others. I expect to hear more from other schools (think Stanford and Duke are now in the act, but I don't know their details) The big name schools end up actually cheaper than schools without such a large endowment, and in some cases cheaper than state schools. Even if you don't make these cuts, if there is one thing in life not to skimp on, it's your undergraduate education, since a huge fraction of your earning power is driven by this, especially in the first decade or so out of college. Student loans are essentially free of interest (interest rates at or less than inflation, and you can take the interest directly off your tax bill), and there are a ton of little grants around that you can gather to make things work. And your lifelong contacts/friends will be made in college.