Wasn't online over the long weekend, but thought I'd chime in with another, more recent reassurance. Both my dds chose the cheaper option for undergrad (good, but not top-ranked schools). One especially had her heart set on prestige, but thank God, her practical side came through. Next year, she'll be entering one of the holy trinity of law schools, and yes, taking on lots of debt (because HYS don't offer merit aid). In the case of law school, rankings really do matter, and she, and one of her closest friends, who also went to a state school, were both accepted at many highly-ranked schools. When you look at these schools' websites, they accept students from a WIDE range of schools (in fact, some that left me scratching my head!
. So, I actually don't think your dd will necessarily experience bias on being accepted to graduate programs. My other dd was accepted into a highly-ranked, full-ride PhD program a few years ago, but ended up hating it and is following a different path now. Point being though, you can save money (LOTS of money) on undergrad and still get into an amazing grad school. If dd had lots of debt, I don't think she'd have felt comfortable choosing her dream school for law school. They both have thanked us numerous times for steering them to the no-debt option.
