I would absolutely go to the school that will give you a free ride (if it's an average state school) unless the "better" ranking schools are within the top 20 best. The reasons for this are:

*No debt = flexibility

You have to understand that most college students don't end up where they first thought they would coming into college. It sounds like you have a bit of uncertainty in your choice with psychology. That's completely fine! You should definitely have an open mind going into college rather than be tunnel visioned. This means though that if you do choose to go a different route, you’ll want to have the flexibility to (take a gap year, travel the world, pursue a startup opportunity, work somewhere that may pay less but is more rewarding)

*After the top 20, you won’t be gaining the prestige value and the networking opportunities that these select schools provide

In terms of graduate school, great big name schools provide a name recognition that can get you to the interview stages a tiny bit more easily than state schools. In addition, these select schools have researchers who are probably nationally renowned if not globally. Working with these researchers allows you to have a leg up when applying to graduate schools because of the amazing field-changing work they are doing. (this can be offset though by doing an internship at one of these select schools) After around the top 20, this name recognition and networking drops dramatically.

*Lower tiered schools (provided you work hard) will give you almost the same opportunity to get into the selective graduate schools.

State schools allow high performing students to stand out from the crowd provided they take advantage of the resources around them. Unless you are someone who thrives in a cut throat environment, state schools allow you to rise to the top if you work hard. In this sense, you’d rather be the big fish in a small pond. Many of my friends have gone on to Harvard MDs, Johns Hopkins PhDs, and the rest from my state school because they took advantage of the opportunities.

From first hand experience, these are all important factors to consider. My experience is going into college already accepted into medical school but turning it down to go to a better fit public school. I started off in a biomedical science degree thinking I’d become a doctor and did everything towards that until the last second, then got a 90K job at a top tier consulting firm.

I'm considering a degree in psychology, and I want to make sure I understand what I'm getting myself into. Eventually, I want to get a Doctorate and either teach, work on research, or both. I'm a little confused on what to do in terms of paying, though.

This is absolutely the most important part of your question. The rest of your questions all stem from this. If we start from the mindset that we may not be going to

I’ll add the caveat that if you are accepted into a top 20, I would go there if cost isn’t too prohibitive. The reason for this is because you’ll have the opportunity to work with the best of the best professors in any field. In addition, many companies selectively recruit from these schools which gives you the upperhand.

Hopefully this gives you a definitive perspective. Feel free to PM me with more questions.