Make sure you check out ohio medical schools' tuition year by year. Cincy and OSU ups the tuition by 15k during m2-m3 and m3-m4 respectively and it ends up being not much of a discount over four years. (I think it's about ~25k less compared to a private school with 48k/yr tuition when I calculated it) It's something, but not as good of a discount as you normally see from a state school.
Looking at the full value of cost of attendance is certainly good advice, but the math adds up differently.
Private school (48k/year), total cost of tuition over 4 years: $192,000
Take a state school like Ohio State, total cost of tutition over 4 years: $155,830 (M1 OOS, M2-M4 IS)
Difference: $36,170
Additionally, since as you mentioned, most state schools tends to proportionate the tuition according to year. This means that the early years are cheaper, which means the overall financial burden is even less at graduation (assuming one takes loans).
At 6.8% loan rate compounding continuously and principles at year interval(just a simple approximation of the disbursement model, but will slightly overestimate the real cost for principal intervals less than a year)
Private school (48k/year): Present value of total cost of tuition: $226,936
State school: Present value of total cost of tuition : $184,710
Difference: $42,226
40k is not an insignificant discount, considering it would probably be the equivalent of a year of tuition.
Spreading tuition out evenly over four years is not the best idea, financially. A med school cost of $38,$39,$41,$42 is strictly cheaper than a cost of $40,$40,$40,$40, even if the total added up are the same.
Incidentally, delaying med school to move to a state for a year to get residency is also a bad idea, financially speaking as well, unless one is making $150k+ in that year or so.
