Your son would qualify for the Aloha Scholarship at Oregon State, up to $8000. Keep in mind that OSU charges by credit so the more classes the more you pay. I know kids that take core classes at the community college (shuttle provided) to keep tuition costs down.
There is a dedicated airport shuttle from PDX to Corvallis.
Just visited Northern Arizona University with our son. It’s a beautiful campus, and the info session mentioned 100 inches of snow and 288 days of sunshine per year. It’s near a ski resort and I’m sure there’s mountain biking. Flagstaff is a nice town with plenty of outdoors activities nearby. We were not looking at engineering but they are ABET accredited. There’s an honors program and we met a couple of well-spoken, interesting honors students. It seemed reasonably diverse to me. We are from Arizona and know a number of NAU grads. I came away from the visit impressed. They offer WUE to all majors, and stack academic scholarships with that, if I’m recalling correctly from the info session.
We’ve also visited university of Wyoming for engineering (different kid) and know a student there. It’s also a beautiful campus, in a nice small town near outdoorsy things. It’s only a couple of hours from Denver but felt more remote than NAU to us. It’s colder there than in Flagstaff. Beautiful dining hall with the best food I’ve had on any of our college visits.
Western Washington is in a beautiful area. I tried to convince one of my kids to apply. Maybe son will.
I am a big Chico fan… great biking in Bidewll park and they have a mountain biking team! My son graduates from there this Dec. The trip to Sac Airport is about 90 min. Snow can be found not too far away near Lassen National Park. Real skiing is a trek though. There are on again/off again commercial flights to/from Chico
A little counter-intuitive but Sac State has access to unbelievable cycling (of all types) along the American River parkway *adjacent campus). Ski resorts are about 90 min away. Not a college town… but, a solid engineering school.
One other thought is UNR. They have easy access to snow sports, great mountain biking. They have a very strong cycling team.
I was going to say Colorado State but it looks like your son misses the WUE cutoff by 10 points (need 1190 with a 3.9). Does he have an ACT score?
U Idaho is fratty and Idaho Conservative. Boise St would be the better choice for that state. Our daughter got a great offer from (very white) U Montana in Missoula. She has a friend from Nevada who studies engineering (WSU) and he says the Nevada colleges are not well thought of.
University of Utah if he can handle the whiteness, though it is more diverse than Montana. They allow in-state tuition if he lives in Utah for the summer after freshman year.
Thank you for sharing Fort Lewis College. It wasn’t on my radar but now after checking it out it is on the top of the list! It has a terrific website and it seems to match my son so well. I love the size and the faculty/student ratio is awesome. My son has gone to a small school on a small rural island all his life. Fort Lewis looks like a great place to make friends and build community. They have a major in Engineering that looks fine for him. I read a bunch of student reviews on another website and there was overwhelming agreement on how beautiful it is there, how intimate and friendly, the myriad of outdoor activities, and how great the professors are. Thanks to everyone for your feedback!
Ft Lewis is a cute college, but Durango is remote The Million Dollar Highway is often closed so that means you have to go ‘the long way’ around to get there from Denver or Grand Junction. There is much more snow down that way than you’d imagine. It may be easier to get to Durango from Hawaii through Las Vegas. It’s about 8-9 hour drive, while Denver to Durango is at least 6, but more like 8.
Another school you may want to look at is Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction. It has construction engineering and mechanical engineering.
Thank you for the feedback. I liked Colorado Mesa but they don’t give wue to students in Mechanical Engineering after Sophmore year. Isn’t there an airport in Durango?
as noted by @gumbymom, my son is a freshman at Ft Lewis and is actually a scholarship cyclist there. This is the 23rd time they have won the national collegiate mountain bike championship. They are also top competitors in the other cycling disciplines - the Skyhaws are a bit of a cycling dynasty if you will. Two current students and one recent graduate just represented the US at the Mountain Biking World Championships in Australia. They have a few olympians in Howard Grotts and Tod Wells just to name a couple… https://durangoherald.com/articles/178742
The scenery and cycling terrain is to die for… and the team/camaraderie/coaching is really great. You wouldn’t believe how accessible these world class athletes are. If your son wants to race mountain bikes, he will think he’s died and gone to heaven. There is also a ski area just outside town and a major resort (Purgatory) a little further away. The campus is home to lots of wildlife (deer, bears, etc.) and there is a massive network of trails easily accessed from campus without a car.
the reason i didn’t mention it in my previous post is that they offer only a general engineering major. I honestly don’t know how that will play in the work-force without an advanced degree. There is an airport about 20 min from campus and rental cars and Uber are both viable for a visit. American and United both have regular service, through PHX and DEN respectively. No question it is remote. The town has everything one could need as far as restaurants and retail. I encourage you to check it out… just understand the major limitation.
My son, an avid snowboarder and outdoor enthusiast, graduated from Ft. Lewis and he loved it. He and his friends are all doing very well post-grad. The population is Native American, Hispanic, and outdoorsy white kids (very few black or Asian students). There are quite a few students from out of state.
No frats. DII sports. Low tuition/coa. The food is not great, so many students move off campus or to the apartments on campus after freshman year. The campus is quiet with lots of wildlife like deer roaming around and you often hear Native American singing/drumming. On a snowy day, you might find half the student population at the ski resort 30 minutes away. Budget for a season pass or work or volunteer at the resort for a free one.
There is an airport in Durango, so budget for a second flight from a more major airport.
If he likes the idea of Fort Lewis, maybe check out OSU’s new Bend campus. They only have Energy Systems Engineering if that is a deal killer. Like Durango, outdoor activities around Bend are world-class. Technically not WUE, but special scholarships are available to students from WUE states.
Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction has a large contingent of Hawaii kids. They also have engineering in a partnership with CU Boulder. Pretty innovative program and a brand new Engineering building to boot.
My daughter goes to Mesa (and is good friends with one of those Hawaii kids) for nursing and absolutely loves the school.