If your'e prioritizing funding, many schools that are state universities, are usually fully funded through a stipend, which includes a tuition waiver + assistantship. A lot of these schools tend to have Feb 1 deadlines.
To the best of my knowledge, Stony Brook and most New York Schools, are not fully funded.
Also, if your'e attending out of state, even if tuition waiver is included, student fees still get increased for out of state purposes until you have residency. Which means fees can cost thousands of dollars instead of hundreds.
I also think cost shouldn't be over emphasized when choosing a school. It's important, but there are many fully funded programs and almost every grad student takes out loans for tuition or indirect costs like living expenses.