Program reputation vs. Cost

[VeryCheesey]

Hi!

I am deep in the conundrum most of us must be facing/have faced - the reputation/cost trade-off.

I was admitted to the MPP programs at Ford School of Public Policy at UMich with $30k tuition waiver (1/3rd of the tuition), and to the Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota with in-state tuition + $20k (I am an international student, so in-state tuition is a godsend).

So my problem is this - Even with the funding, I will rack up a debt of about $60k if I decide to attend Ford (provided I don't land a campus job in the coming semesters). However, the program's reputation is much better than the Humphrey MPP, both within the US and internationally. It also aligns with my interest, gives me the flexibility I desire from the curriculum, and has a wide variety of courses and research I am interested in.

At Humphrey, on the other hand, I will have a much smaller debt ($15-20k), but the program is less to my liking, though not so bad as to be rejected entirely. The number of courses offered is fewer, too.

My question, thus, is this - Is the Ford MPP actually worth the extra cost I will put into it? Especially since my other alternative brings to cost to a third of the estimate?

Thanks!