I went through this process about two years ago. For people who are on a budget, Stanford is often cheaper. It's an income based school. You get all paid if your household income is XX and all school and housing paid if your income is under XXX.
The point is for people where money is the deciding factor, Stanford is often cheaper. Harvard is similar. On our Stanford tour, we were told 90% of the student body was on some sort of subsidized schooling or scholarship and only 10% actually pay what you read about the advertised cost of the school.
It's not as black and white as you'd think or many on Cougarboard think. When you get down to it, life for many people is about more than career and money prospects alone.