I had a similar situation less a local top-10 local university. I could go locally and walk out debt-free (actually ended up about $10k positive) or go to a better university (Illinois or Georgia Tech) and walk out with ~100k in debt. A bunch of very sharp people of modest means stayed local. Those that didn't had parents taking second mortgages to help pay.
Suffice to say, I went local and things worked out in the end. I calculated that now, with a top job, I would have broken even in about two years. The only open question is if it will impact my future career prospects.
I have seen this first-hand. Many of my supposed GTAs, particularly for more advanced courses like Operating Systems, did not know any of the material that they were teaching. In one case, I had to show them how to use the CLI. Some had wonderful questions like "Are pipes how copy and paste work". Can I get a refund on my degree?
Suffice to say, I went local and things worked out in the end. I calculated that now, with a top job, I would have broken even in about two years. The only open question is if it will impact my future career prospects.