Those aren't fundamentally different decisions. In both cases, you are determining your rate of return on your educational investment and making a decision to p

Those aren't fundamentally different decisions. In both cases, you are determining your rate of return on your educational investment and making a decision to prefer high debt/high earnings, and lower debt/lower earnings. If you don't think the school itself matters enough to justify the increased cost, you'll prefer lower-cost universities. If you think it does, you'll prefer the school that can net you the most income.