Although everyone will tell you tuition should not be an issue in getting a "quality" education, I say it should still be on your radar, just not at the top.
I ended up choosing a decently ranked state school over a higher ranked private. I chose the state school because of the huge resources that the university could afford. State money definately helps to supplement education, and is evident in the highly advanced technology at my school. I also chose state school because of the hospital system. The hospital system has a huge very well known cancer center as well as a top 100 hospital. This allows for a very very diverse patient population as well as complicated cases for excellent education. Another reason I chose state school was that with all of the state money plus tuition, our school is able to afford HUGE names in gen surg, ENT, plastics, cardiology, GI, pathology, and other top fields, as not only a big salary, but high numbers of difficult and interesting patients are referred here. This high volume is essential as these big names all do research, and as callous as it sounds, they need patients for their studies. The important thing about these big names, at least at my school is that their letters of recommendations go VERY far in their fields.
Now, I'm not saying private schools don't have these resources, but the private school that I was accepted to at least, did not compare to the state school in these aspects.
I would consider these issues, as well as the fact that you can be between $100k in debt up to $200k in debt. MOST people don't start paying back loans significantly until AFTER residency as people start lives, buy houses, have families, etc. So by the end of residency, the $100k often becomes $300k and the $200k can definately reach $600k by the time you finish paying it all off over a decade or more.
Good luck with your decision. Make sure you go to a school that is right for you most of all, then think about money 3rd or 4th down on your list of priorities.
KosmoKramer