Is Purdue university worth the extra debt?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Purdue University
1

So my sons have most of their financial awards.

The title says most of it.

Schools have been narrowed down to NC State (21K), the Ohio State (27K), and Purdue (30K and 40K).

I have twin boys, and they have decided they would prefer to go together but have different major interests

DS1 is undecided and has been awarded the Presidential Scholarship at Purdue. He is looking at majors in the STEM fields, but not sure on what area. He is leaning on Animal Science.

DS2 is accepted to all colleges in the Engineering colleges. His primary interest is Computer Science and Computer Engineering. Purdue has accepted DS2 in the First Year Engineering college, but Computer Science is actually in another College building, so he isn’t sure how that one would work. Unfortunately, he was not awarded the Presidential Scholarship (even with stronger stats) due to the Engineering program being much more competitive. Therefore, the cost of Purdue for DS2 would be almost 40K.

Would you choose Purdue over NC State and/or Ohio State? or Would you choose one of the other colleges?

Money is always a concern. I wanted to stay in the 25K neighborhood each, but trying to decide if paying the extra is worth the price for Purdue.

2

Purdue is a great school, especially for those majors, but I’m not sure it’s enough to justify the huge cost differential with NCSU - even with the scholarship. So your total at Purdue for both boys would be about $70K per year, vs. $42K for NCSU? Seems like a no-brainer, unless there is something I’m missing.

If it was Stanford or Carnegie Mellon for CS . . . might be a different answer.