I think that latter statement is very unfair. Myself, any many other "good students" I know still faced ~100-200k in expenses (both tuition and otherwise) at t

I think that latter statement is very unfair. Myself, any many other "good students" I know still faced ~100-200k in expenses (both tuition and otherwise) at the end of 4 years. Even being offered essentially a 'half off' masters did little to lessen the overall impact; and that was all I got. Granted, I was well enough off financially to recover from this, but other close friends in less advantageous positions came out with 50k+ in debt, and they had "significant amounts" of assistance. I found my university at least to be just as stingy as the public universities you speak of.