[quote=Halo]
This is a somewhat odd request, but Spam, I need your help getting perspective.
I'm 17. I have no real concept of large sums of money, and my parents are terrible examples of good financial policy. I can learn through the experiences of others, though. 
As I mentioned a while back, I got into Imperial College London. It's one of the best unis in the world, and I'm super fucking chuffed. I'd go there without question, but for one issue: holy shit, moneyz. I'd be leaving with something like 50000 GBP worth of debt (around $83000), minimum. 
Or I could go to St. Andrews (3rd oldest uni in the world, where Prince William and Kate went, etc. etc.) or Edinburgh (top-20 in the world uni), and leave with virtually no debt by comparison.
Now, Imperial outclasses those institutions, by a wide margin, and there's virtually no better place for me to kickstart my career in academia. But I need to get some more perspective on how much money that is, more than just "a lot", so I can see if it's worth it. If you guys can offer any advice or any way for me to get a grip on this, as a bunch of adulty people, I'd appreciate it. If not, well, derail the thread as you guys always do!
[/quote]

See when you came on here talking about how you were going to Imperial College I had assumed you meant you had gotten a scholarship. World-class, private colleges use their selectivity as an excuse to bump the prices up ridiculously. IMO as far as actually learning the stuff, it really doesn't matter which college you go to or the quality of education they are known for. Shit, you could learn pretty much everything needed for any career on your own if you had the drive. What you should really be worried about is how the college will look on your resume.

Now you're wanting to get into a career in theoretical physics if I remember right, so you can damn well bet that which college you can brag about going to will have a huge effect on your work life, a lot of your work will probably come from schools as well. So it would be in your best interest to get educated at the most respected college you can, trying to get as many scholarships as you can, and deal with the dept.

But also consider whether you truly want to immediately devote yourself to theoretical physics like this, you'll be financially fucked if you start with a high-priced college only to find you can't handle the workload or simply don't like the field. Remember that you can always go back to college as well, so you could first get a cheaper degree in a less demanding research/science field (If your love is with science, and not just physics) or perhaps engineering or computer science (Which would give you practical physics experience) before you jump into the big leagues of theoretical physics. To me, theoretical physics seems like an advanced degree most scholars would get after already having a few other degrees under their belt.