Yes! The smaller cost of a state school is definitely smart to consider. You often have access to resources there that you wouldn't get at a smaller school, too. (Though I'm sure Brown is well-appointed.)
Especially if you're thinking about grad school, saving a bit of money on college is very, VERY smart!
If you have a perfect GPA and get on working for some profs at the smaller school, you will get into Grad School.
At every state school there are some departments that are pure gems with some very good profs and small class size in the upper div classes. These departments are often there to teach the larger departments' students core classes so they are not the focus of the school. These profs sometimes are working on some cool things that you can easily volunteer to work on and get gobs of experience and maybe get published.
Here is one example of something neat:
http://smallcomets.physics.uiowa.edu/Many small schools have neat things going on like this so you just have to poke around on profs' pages.
