I've said this before and I will say this again, what you make out of your school's legacy (if it's expensive) is up to you, unless you decide to be proactive and utilize your time and opportunity, your experience in any school will be the same. Does the other school host events, have labs open to the public, conduct research, and other non-academic opportunities? Perhaps read your faculties bio and current projects/research if they are involved in any, and see if your school offers any open events/programs to licensed therapist or to the community, how much research grant the schools are receiving, etc. it may give you something different to look at when making decisions.

I went to a program in a large private university and I'm still paying back my loans even after 6 years of working full time. The faculty were tough but generally fair, and there were many opportunities available, which some in my class utilized and others including myself that didn't. I honestly regret not making use of my time; some of my classmates were able to get into fellowships really early in the career, others found academic positions within the program we graduated, some had research opportunities, and some got their first job at a very popular and competitive children's hospital. What would I do if I could go back and re-do things? I would actually choose the same school even with the loans and be more proactive in getting the know the faculty better in person and jumping into as much opportunities as possible. There are plenty of opportunities available once you are out in the field, but you will be limited by time constraints, and without having connections or knowing the right person, you might be at a disadvantage landing on these opportunities.

Through my personal experience of meeting other PT's from various places, becoming a clinical instructor and taking up students from multiple programs in the area, I have to say there definitely is a difference in the focus of education, and unfortunately also the quality. One of the programs nearby seem to have a strong emphasis on neuro and have always been very professional and pleasant to work with, another program seem to be sending in students that seem to care little about evidence in practice and could not write critically appraised topics (CATs), another program where the students seem to be very book smart but struggle with application of knowledge into practice (i.e. clinical decision making). Obviously with a small sample size and limited range of schools, this could simply be an error due to the individual ability of the students, but other CI's in my setting agrees too.

Another question you should think about is, what kind of therapist would you like to be when you graduate? Is PT going to be just another job to make ends meet at the end of the day? Or are you planning on opening your own practice, going into research, seeking academic positions, taking a leadership role in your setting, etc. If PT is just going to be another job for you to make a living and nothing more than that, then any school should do. If you wish to pursue and get more out of your career, you might want to look into more than just the cost.