Help choosing between SLP programs

[bives]

My daughter has been accepted to University of Wisconsin (out of state), Purdue (out of state), Ohio State (out of state) and Western Michigan (in state).  At this point there has not been an offer for assistantships or scholarships. My question is, in the long run will she be shooting herself in the foot by going to Western Michigan and saving a bunch of $$ or is she better off going to the higher ranked schools that happen to be out of state? Does anyone out there know the caliper of Western Michigan's program? 

Edited March 19, 2014 by bives

[AuDorBust]

First off, congrats to your daughter for being able to make choices, not everyone gets that opportunity. CSD grad programs are really competitive. US News does the rankings; and Western Michigan is #35. You didn't say which campus of UW she was accepted so WM could be better or worse depending on the campus. Although WM sounds like the lowest ranked school, she was accepted to really look at how many program rankings there are. SLP rankings go up to 229 (compare that to AuD in which the rankings go up to 74). So top 50 is still really good. Are you going to be paying for this or is she? In my opinion, go with the most financially responsible choice. An SLP isn't making 6 figures. Do you really want to take out tons of personal loans to pay for school? I think going into a ton of debt for a marginally better ranked program is unwise. You should also read up on how the rankings are determined. It is peer review so rather arbitrary.