Public universities are not bad. I did my time in Univ of Washington and Utah State University, and I definitely feel like I got my money's worth.
A warning, though. UW's proximity to MS and the other tech companies made the department really exclusive for undergrads while I was there. I majored in something besides CS, then did my master's in CS later. You'll want to learn about what the department's standards are (eg, competitive admission for starters) so you know what you have to do to get in.
I recommend you email or call the department secretaries and ask for some information and a hookup with a current student. Assuming the secretary and the student are helpful, you'll learn a lot about what you need to know.
OT, apply for scholarships like crazy. Don't make my mistake.
UW and Utah State both have great undergrad CS programs, and they produce lots of solid OSS projects, which could help your visibility a lot when you're applying for jobs after college.
I'm going to have to make my usual plug for my home state (Oregon) here, too, and suggest that the OP look at both Oregon State University, in Corvallis, and Portland State University, in Portland.
Neither is "world-class" for CS, but they both have solid software engineering and math programs, produce a lot of open source, and have good connections to the tech employers in the region. Plus, western Oregon (and Portland especially) is a pretty damn nice place to live.
I'd just like to point out that, if you have any interest in genetic algorithms, Dr. Melanie Mitchell is one of the professors at Portland State University and she pretty much wrote the book on GA's (see here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0262631857/qid...).
A warning, though. UW's proximity to MS and the other tech companies made the department really exclusive for undergrads while I was there. I majored in something besides CS, then did my master's in CS later. You'll want to learn about what the department's standards are (eg, competitive admission for starters) so you know what you have to do to get in.
I recommend you email or call the department secretaries and ask for some information and a hookup with a current student. Assuming the secretary and the student are helpful, you'll learn a lot about what you need to know.
OT, apply for scholarships like crazy. Don't make my mistake.