Cost of living goes kinda multiple ways. Yes shopping is more expensive because things need to be imported. But then again rent can be cheap. Traveling is a fair point if it is important to go home for the holidays but in the scheme of things, at least to me, a *couple* thousand difference doesn't make much of a difference. So when you look at total anticipated cost for schools, yes many OOS schools list tuition + other expensive as between $70-$80k a year which puts you in the same exact range.
You also have a misconception re. Pets on the island. Pets are not allowed in campus housing. If you tell the school you have a pet you are allowed to live off campus. My dog is 16 and SGU appealed to me because entry requirements are lax-no quarantine needed.
Pass rate is significantly higher at SGU than Ross. 2017 pass rate was 94% which is not significantly lower from U.S. schools and is even higher/on par with some. I also think this shows something about their teaching methods because they *do* attract people with lower GPAs and less experience, and these people still thrive.
I am not sure what you would expect to be exposed to in U.S. but not internationally. The clinical years are done wherever you would like. So, U.S., but England, Ireland, Australia, etc are also options. And many faculty members are from the U.S.
So I'm not like saying, uh yeah you better go to the islands. Just that if you have an idealized vision of U.S. schools that makes them better than (SGU specifically), be aware for the reasons you think this is may be misconstrued. Rather than waiting year after year, cycle after cycle, accepting that they are great options is good, because they are.