Olin’s half off for everyone is like a JCPenney sale, what is the actual point?
West Virginia
now the not-so-close
i punched in your numbers and Nebraska came out to about $16K per year
http://admissions.unl.edu/
he gets full tuition at Alabama Huntsville plus great coops in a city with tons of opportunities for engineers. if he can squeeze out a 1520 / 34 then he would get free housing too
http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships
Miss State would offer a fat chunk of merit aid
https://www.admissions.msstate.edu/freshmen/money-matters/scholarships/academic-scholarships/
Ole Miss would give you virtually full tuition
http://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8
He’d be considered for virtually a full ride from New Mexico
http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
there’s also South Dakota School of Mines
http://www.sdsmt.edu/Admissions/Tuition-and-Fees/
Are there tax implications for scholarships?
Apparently so in some cases, according to the IRS:
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch01.html
States may have their own rules.
After learning how engineering admissions works at other schools he might give Pitt a second look. Lots of the ones on the list require a competitive process for entry into specific engineering major. Pitt does not.
So he could complete an entire year at his school of choice and then face the reality of not getting accepted into say-- Civil engineering or whatever he wants to do.
Our rule was-- you have to look in your own backyard first. We forced D to consider our local and state schools and at least four and visit for comparison before saying no.
Your student will likely not get much or any merit at Purdue. Not sure of the others on the list.
For engineering I’d recommend that you look into WPI, RIT, and RPI.
Above all I’d recommend RPI but the others are something to look into.
Having gone to both schools I’d pick WPI over RPI based on quality of experience and general student happiness. You need to like the quarter system though which can be pretty intense.
An update to my original question:
Filled out the FAFSA and our EFC is over 76000!!! This in no way represents what we are willing to spend on college. We are more realistically in the $25-30 range. DS will take the ACT again this month to possibly up his game for merit.
Again brainstorming for schools for engineering??? Maybe Toledo or Kentucky? Pitt?
Seconding UA Huntsville. Small nerdy school in tech-oriented city in far northern Alabama, just south of the Tennessee border. Not your stereotypical "Alabama" environment; for example, they play ice hockey rather than football (!) Higher test scores than Bama or Auburn. As noted above, full tuition waiver for existing test scores, plus free housing if score goes up to 1520 SAT or 34 ACT.
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology may be affordable even at out-of-state list price if you have a $30,000 per year budget.
You do not include retirement assets on the FAFSA (other than the tax free contributions for the year which are added back into income). The FAFSA directions are kind of terrible. Read through this article to make sure you did it right.
@monylynn UMass Lowell could turn out to be affordable and they have quality engineering.
UAlabama would give him a large merit scholarship plus another eng;g scholarship on top. Net cost would be in budget.
Fabulous eng’g facilities. Over 1Million square feet of new STEM academic space. Gorgeous campus.
Penn State Harrisburg
An EFC of over 75K is unlikely to be any surprise if correct, so I echo that if it is a surprise, check your numbers (although even if your EFC was 45K, it wouldn’t make any difference in this case IMO). What anyone is willing to pay is a separate matter. So the usual story is to look instate, look at any reciprocity for your state, and look at auto merit options, again though, 32 and male is often standard to more desirable public engineering programs so you have to look beyond the obvious.
@monylynn Here is one of my favorite resources for engineering programs. Its a very comprehensive list of engineering programs around the country. Its a good start for you - beginning with Pennsylvania. Don’t concern yourself with their rankings, just use the list as a start to help in your search. This list was where my S started his search oh so long ago 
Good luck!
My DD is a senior at UA (University of Alabama) - completing double major in civil and architectural engineering - with Presidential Scholarship and $10K engineering scholarship. Also had marching band scholarship/played in Million Dollar Band 4 years and the scholarship was based on audition - audition for selection and high enough audition score.
We have friends’ kids that have attended schools like Cooper Union (the last class with full tuition merit for all students; however very small and Manhattan rent drives up the cost; not sure what tuition current students pay).
Worth applying to UA - test scores I believe are accepted through Dec 2017 test date - but check web site or with UA. DD received Presidential based on last test score/Dec of her HS senior year.
Here is the link and a quick view of OOS automatic merit for great stats (the scholarships also have 3 additional lower level merit OOS scholarships) :
https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
First time freshmen who meet the December 15 scholarship deadline, have a qualifying score on the ACT or SAT and have at least a 3.5 cumulative high school GPA through the junior year will be eligible for the following merit-based scholarships:
UA Scholar
A student with a 30-32 ACT or 1390-1480 SAT score and at least a 3.5 GPA, he or she will be named a UA Scholar and will receive $76,000 over four years ($19,000 per year).
Presidential Scholar
A student with a 33-36 ACT or 1490-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive $100,000 over four years ($25,000 per year). Students graduating with remaining scholarship semester(s) may use these monies toward graduate school and/or law school study at UA.
Presidential Elite Scholar
A student with a 4.0 GPA and a 36 ACT or 1600 SAT will be selected as a Presidential Elite Scholar and will receive:
Value of tuition for up to four years for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
One year of on-campus housing at regular room rate
$1,000 per year stipend for four years
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
$2,000 book scholarship ($500 per year for four years)
Looking to see about the Engineering scholarship, which has been $2500/year ($10K total) for high stat students coming in with declared eng/cs major. Need to check UA web site.
For current HS sophomores and juniors, look into UA SITE program (Student Introduction to Engineering) - one week program in the summer for students discerning eng/cs majors. DD did SITE before her HS senior year, and chose civil eng. Was able to expand her civil eng interests with the diversified UA programs (thus the double major).
For students declared National Merit or Finalist:
https://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/
There are a lot of high stat kids at UA, and as a Flagship school, has a lot to offer. In recent years, have large OOS student base (more incoming freshmen are OOS). Great honors programs - some larger, and some very select.