Thanks @natsecguy! Helpful thoughts indeed. I share a lot of your opinions. For the sake of discussion, I'll offer a few more to get your perspective.
Jackson/SPIA funding seems excellent. It is shocking to me that HKS as a policy school doesn't offer funding for its 50k plus per year degree. It seems reckless to offer a service oriented degree and charge 100K+ tuition. I remember at one of their info sessions that stated less than 40% of students were on aid meaning people either have outside funding (slim minority), are self-funded (even slimmer minority), or are just going into colossal debt.
Jackson seems like a long-term top tier program, I am just worried in the short-term it won't offer the same robust experience a place like SPIA/SIPA/HKS will just due to institutional memory.
Small cohort is also great but at the graduate level I wonder if ~30 is stifling. To me, a big part of the graduate school experience should be meeting new people and cross-pollinating ideas. Not sure this happens with a cohort of 60 versus 150.
Good luck this cycle!