I am having major stress over that exact issue. I'm deciding between two schools: one extremely expensive, the other relatively affordable. The expensive school is, of course, my dream school to which I'm thankful to have been admitted. As much as I try to justify the extra cost and as much as I tell myself that I belong at the expensive school, the reality is that I just don't think it is prudent to take on extreme debt to go there. (I have found a student loan debt payment calculator that has been extremely helpful - http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml - check it out) As the Stones say, you can't always get what you want - such is life. I'm extremely fortunate, though, in that my second, more affordable program is excellent in its own right and that I know I can succeed there.
That being said...I'm still going to make one more push for some funding at the expensive school.
What are your thoughts - are you leaning toward a more expensive school?