vertsim

As far as the money thing goes, it is real. I know of at least one person who transferred out of UChicago astro due to lack of funding. He also found it crushingly depressing. For Astronomy Ohio and Cornell are both extremely good schools with tons of great people working there. I wouldn't say that either are a step down from U of C in terms of prestige, especially not in the eyes of the astrophysics crowd. Ohio State is an especially good place to be a grad student in astro from what I have heard (Astro coffee!). Good luck deciding, you've got some great options.