How realistic is it?
I’m not sure if it’s worth applying to a couple of the TX schools of interest, unless my son got significant merit aid (so it’s not UT-Austin).
We live in southeastern FL.
I’m just not sure I see him going that far (or is it far?). Is that a silly reason to not apply to a school? I do see my son liking somewhere on the warm side. Our northernmost point is probably Virginia/Maryland. I want to make sure he considers plenty of options, but we don’t want to apply everywhere either.
When my daughter was doing an accepted students tour at UCLA, there was a father/son duo in our group who’d flown in from Miami. They didn’t regard the distance as a major impediment.
My daughter ended up at Rice. Houston is about 3.5 hours by plane from where we live in SoCal, and that is quite doable. Our family roots are in central FL, and we’ve often flown from Houston to Tampa as one leg of our cross-country flight from CA to FL. It’s only about 2 hours, and the flight to SE FL wouldn’t be much longer.
Once a school is beyond easy driving distance, students will generally be flying between there and home, and flight times aren’t going to be all that different, no matter where a kid ends up. What’s an extra hour or two in the greater scheme of things?
Here’s the moral: If a school is a good match academically, socially, and financially, distance shouldn’t be that much of a factor.
Thank you @MrSamford2014 - that’s a very helpful perspective, though I’d never want to leave California if I was a student there. 
But wow- Rice - nice! I can see why you were motivated.
We are a little spoiled that we live 5 minutes from a state university and a state college. Sometimes I think he should just go there and be done with it. He knows both schools from dual enrollment.
SoCal is nice enough, once you get used to endless days of 75 degrees and cloudless skies (aka, “drought”), but my wife and I are eager to get back to the heat, humidity, and GREENERY of Florida!
I know what you mean about local colleges. We live literally one [long] block from UC-Irvine, but my daughter really, really wanted to go elsewhere for college. She’s only a freshman now, so we’ll see in time whether or not that proved to be a wise route.
Where are you in Florida?
Southern end of Palm Beach County . . . near Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach State College.
My goodness how can you miss humidity??? So sick of it!!! Where were you all in central Florida? My son was interested in Florida Poly (Lakeland), but my husband is concerned with that it’s too new. Our DS is into computer science/computer engineering.
PS: Big game tonight between FAU and UM! 
@SouthFloridaMom9 My son looked at that school too, but we had to cross it off of our list because it is not yet accredited so we could not use federal financial aid. Just FYI . We’re OOS.
@carolinamom2boys . . . ahh yes, the joys of not being accredited yet (FL Poly). We could do it being in-state, that helps. And my son has a # of DE credits to bring with him. But I would not pay OOS for it at this point.
DH and I have an ongoing disagreement about FL Poly. I actually love it for our son. It’s small, the dorm is right next to the campus building (he’s a bit of a spacey tech-y - not great with directions), and I like their vision and what they’re trying to do. DH thinks they are too narrowly focused, and too new. We are also looking very closely at UA and UAH. We have family connections to VaTech.
I’m struggling to see my son at a very large school, unless he’s in a smaller cohort or program within the large school. FAU is a terrific campus for him (and he could almost walk there), but I’m not sure how strong their CS and CE programs are. They do have a beautiful new engineering building.
I’d like to suggest Clemson and College of Charleston .
@SouthFloridaMom9 We’re from Lakeland–home of the as-yet-unaccredited FL Poly! (It’s also home to Florida Southern College, where my dad taught for many years, but FSC lacks any engineering programs.)
I have a niece who enrolled as a freshman at FAU in fall 2011, but she didn’t like the fact that it felt like a commuter campus (i.e., many students weren’t around on the weekends). She ended up transferring, but from what I can tell, the quality of instruction she received at FAU was considerably higher than at the school she transferred to. She had no complaints with the academics . . . or with the beauty of Boca Raton. I can see why you’d be tempted to encourage your son to enroll there!
If your DS wants to get away from FL for college, you might consider U of Alabama, which is one of the few public universities that awards substantial–and guaranteed (according to GPA + SAT criteria)–merit money to out-of-state students. As far as Texas goes, my daughter received some mailings from UT-Dallas, which is strong in the STEM fields and has a very impressive (though very competitive) full-ride merit scholarship program. Good luck!
If you are looking for a small school in Texas that is strong in CS, Rice and Trinity U both fit the bill. Both are “Tier I” in Rugg’s Guide for their undergraduate CS programs.
Good luck!