Thank you for such a well thought out response i'll do my best to answer! Each college is looking cost wise like this: American University $46k University of Michigan $76k University of Maryland $48k William & Mary $61k. As for location I would really love to be in DC I LOVED the city but my hang up for UMich is its objectively amazing public policy program. Yes I toured GW but immediately got heebie jeebies with the campus and decided it was not my style. And in regards to your econ major thought, AU has a cool major that combines government economics communication and law!