Nobody talks about University of Nebraska. Extremely reasonable with stats like yours. Big Ten, happy place. Lincoln is supposed to be a great city. We are also an Illinois family looking to find a better deal than UIUC. University of Iowa is also a good option, with automatic merit aid for various levels of stats.
Another vote for Iowa State. Several students from our Illinois high school have gone there, getting merit aid. Univ. of Minnesota is also popular for engineering, but I believe they have tightened their out of state aid in the last couple years.
If your son decides to apply to Pitt, have him submit early. They tend to be more generous to OOS kids earlier in the process.
I’d look at Michigan State University. With his stats, he will likely be admitted to the Honors College. Because of his ACT score of 34, he will likely be awarded the out-of-state tuition grant (which will equalize his tuition to that of an in-state student). Additionally, he should be eligible for additional scholarships through the Honors College as well as the engineering programs. Lastly, he’ll be invited to the ADS scholarship weekend (you choose between two weekends - last weekend in Jan. or first weekend in Feb.). This is a terrific weekend for parents and students. The school does a great deal of marketing, but you really get the feel of the place. The students take a test (you can’t prepare so don’t even try) and from the results students may be further interviewed for several full rides and full tuition packages and smaller annual amounts.
My daughter attends from Missouri and has several friends from Illinois - Bloomington and Naperville (near Chicago).
If he’s up to play the game, I would have him take it again. Several students with ACT 35 were awarded full tuition this year at Pitt. Unpredictable how it will play out next year of course since it isn’t guaranteed merit, but I would still encourage him to give it a go. The rest of your list all looks good.
I will repeat what was said upthread about the University of New Mexico. Daughter attended as an OS student with the Amigo scholarship. She graduated with highest honors and had a FANTASTIC time. She too had an IEP in K-8 but no longer had it in place for high school. She did not have the high ACT scores your son has but brought other things to the table.
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
She did have many other options but UNM was very affordable and provided something outside her comfort zone. We are NC residents so like I said many affordable in-state options. She majored in a boutique Classics degree with a Latin minor as a pre/med/dental student. She had wonderful research opportunities since UNM has a large medical school and some great part-time jobs on the medical campus.
Beyond the hard academics (physics, chem, bio, organic+ classics) she also took electives in Navajo, flamenco dance, softball, and Hip Hop. As a D1 athlete she was hard pressed to join many other clubs based on her schedule (pre-med+classics) but she was able to attend nationals for another sport because UNM offered it while some here did not. She was able to join a snow boarding club and did enjoy that during her time at UNM.
ABQ is just a few exits away from UNM so easy in and out of the airport. Southwest flies in everyday. It is a large campus and very southwest. Again she was able to take so many different classes and do so much out of her comfort zone which enabled her to grow not just as a student but as a person. She like her siblings is still best friends with her undergrad buddies.
Engineering schools are ABET certified having to keep to a certain standard. My son attended NC A&T with a mechE degree from their SOE also ABET, which I rave about over in the Parent’s Forum under posts #39 and #88
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/2044698-pros-and-cons-of-hbcus-p6.html
Son is not AA and he fit in fine. They do offer merit and OOS tuition is $20,000 per year. I am sure with his scores he would receive a great deal of merit.
http://www.ncat.edu/admissions/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/fresh-students.html
They do offer http://www.ncat.edu/coe/departments/cbbe/Files/undergraduate-bioengineering.html bioengineering as a major through their SOE:
“Bioengineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine. It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve healthcare diagnosis and treatment. Bioengineering has only recently emerged as its own discipline, compared to many other engineering fields; such an evolution is common as a new field transitions from being an interdisciplinary specialization among already-established fields, to being considered a field in itself. Much of the work in bioengineering consists of research and development, spanning a broad array of subfields. Prominent bioengineering applications include the development of biocompatible prostheses, various diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, common imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, biotechnologies such as regenerative tissue growth, and pharmaceutical drugs and biopharmaceuticals.”
Hope this helps.
Kat
Hey @katwkittens praising UNM is my job!
@elodyCOH With a 34 ACT your son would be guaranteed the Amigo, but would be also eligible to apply for the UNM Regents’ Scholarship. The Regents’ is competitive, but it is a true full ride: full tuition & fees, full room & board plus an extra ~$2000 year for books, transportation and misc.
Additionally the Engineering College at UNM offers its own scholarships in addition to those offered by the university.
http://www.unm.edu/~soeschol/undergraduate_SOE.html
UNM’s engineering is ABET accredited and there are excellent internship opportunities available locally: 2 National Labs, the AF Research Lab, UNM’s med school & Cancer Center, Ethicon, The Mind Institute (brain imaging), LRRI etc. The engineering college offers a co-op program if he’s interested in that.
I know, I know! But since daughter was OOS I thought it would help coming from a NC resident (where we have GREAT affordable in-state options).
I failed to mention the balloon races or the skiing or the cliff diving…but you KNOW all about that with your two daughters! PSA for those that don’t know WayoutWestMom has TWO physician daughters!!! One about to find out her residency very soon, just a few more days! And one a UNM grad!
So yes, UNM provides a wonderful STEM undergrad for research and med school.
Kat
I’ll pipe in with scholarships my son has received so far this year. My son has a 34 ACT, 1510 SAT, 3.98 weighted GPA, 11 AP classes, a fair number of extracurriculars and HS sports freshman and sophomore year but not over the top with ECs or leadership roles.
He received merit scholarships per year as follows:
WVU - $20,500
University of SC - $20,500 plus he is applying for another $5000 merit based scholarship from the engineering school
Ohio State - $15,000
Arizona State - $15,000
If he is awarded the extra engineering scholarship at USC, I’ve estimated that would put our total costs around $19,000 per year and WVU would be around $21,000 year.
We visited both WVU and USC. I liked both schools, however, my son liked USC a lot better, but personally, I think he had his mind closed-off to West Virginia (the state.)
We live in Northern VA. My son has also been admitted to James Madison and George Mason here instate. He was deferred from Virginia Tech engineering (early decision) but we should hear admission news next week. Still waiting on UVA but that is a long shot. My son wants to go to a school with D1 sports so the only schools he wants to go to in Virginia is VT (for engineering only, not the regular school which he should be admitted to as his second choice major) or UVA and both VT (for engineering) and UVA are super-competitive especially for Northern VA kids. He was also admitted to University of Maryland - still waiting to hear on scholarships but not optimistic.
Good luck to your son and good luck getting three through college and I hope you keep that retirement plan on track. I think it is good that your kids will have some skin in the game with the loans - wish we had talked about that, especially since my son doesn’t seem to be factoring in the price tag.
@katwkittens I’m interested in your perspective as your daughter went to University of New Mexico from the east. My son has been accepted and awarded an Amigo scholarship, but we live in Maine. He started the college search by wanting palm trees or southwestern warmth 
He also wants to mountain bike and ski. He is down to three schools realistically: UMaine, Allegheny College, and University of New Mexico for computer science (though he may end up doing digital media or communications instead of in addition).
He’s admitted to others but we either can’t really afford them, or they don’t seem like good deals. So, will my son from rural central Maine be successful at A) living in a city B) living in a place so vastly different from the northeast and C) be able to successfully navigate a large public university? I’m sure as his mother I ought to be able to answer these questions, but I would value input from other parents who have been there, done that. Thanks!
@WayOutWestMom I could use your perspective on this too.
^^^^Has your son visited UNM yet? Have you? Have you been to the southwest region at all?
I ask because we moved to NC from Las Vegas and before Vegas we were in northern CA. Before moving to northern CA we lived in Phoenix and San Diego. NC was a culture shock for my kiddos, we moved during daughter’s junior year of high school. It took some time before they fell in love with our Carolina but daughter lives here in NC after graduating from UNM.
So daughter was used to the southwestern region, the weather/climate, food and geography. Along with that all the outdoor adventures she was really looking forward to. But she knew no one when she went and we had no family/friends in NM. So she was on her own, no stopping by home when home-sick. She was close to 3000 miles away.
Knowing that she was excited to go and really took advantage of all the opportunities offered. Being outside her comfort zone really caused her to grow and stretch who she was and where she wanted to go with her life. It was NOT a continuation of high school for her.
She originally planned to major in architecture, was admitted but found what she had really wanted was architectural engineering which few schools offer. Meanwhile she loved her Latin classes in high school so majored in the Classics with a Latin minor. Interestingly enough her brother’s college roommate at p’ton was also a Classics major so she was able to compare notes and classes. It was considered a very boutique major with few students yet with wonderful professors. It melded well with her pre-med/dental schedule and she was able to find part-time work (paid research) at the med school and hospital.
She took some great electives, participated as a D1 athlete and had 4 years filled with things I could not have imagined. He brother visited her 1 summer and took some classes not offered at p’ton, anatomy and physiology and other STEM/med school classes. So UNM provided opportunities 2 of my kiddos took advantage of, from the other side of the country.
Daughter was capt of 3 varsity sports all 4 years of high school in 2 different high schools and qualified for states/regionals for those sports in 2 different states so she was used to pressure and the unknown. Having 3 brothers all football players kept her on her toes as a competitive athlete. I say this to show my daughter has had experience with the new and unknown and how to respond and thrive.
I don’t know how your son will respond, I don’t know how he learns or pushes himself. Daughter took disadvantages and made them work for her. Yes, she did get discouraged at times but she had to work it out for herself. Like I said she grew outside her comfort zone and really thrived. Other children do not have the same response. Is it a real stretch to see your son doing well far from Maine? Is he easily discouraged when things are unfamiliar? Or does he embrace newness and change? Is he excited about UNM?
She had to deal with financial aid, filling out registration, getting herself to and from the airport, meal plans, health plans, doctor visits, pt, friends, practice and workout times, labs…all on her own. No help from me, and I went only once for move-in. We could not afford any other visits, not even for graduation. She had a minor injury, hospitalized and I could not go. Again, she was on her own.
Like I said, outside her comfort zone which was not a location or learning experience, it was me. Fortunately her brother was able to visit that one summer due to a grant from p’ton for summer study. And she only returned 1 summer, all the others were filled with practice and her research/work at the hospital.
I hope this helps you and your son.
Kat
To get full tuition at Pitt is competitive. Folks who’ve dug deeper to find out what Pitt wants along with near perfect ACT/SAT scores is being top %2 rank
Is he a likely NMSF NMF? What were his psat scores
@katwkittens Thank you! It is helpful. My son is a confident extrovert, but also, like a lot of 18 year olds, innocent and a little naive. He is very laid back and not always forward planning. That said, he did a nice job with the college app process. He has traveled a bit, been to cities as a visitor. We’ve been to Texas several times. He is in Arizona right now for spring break with his girlfriend’s family, so getting a further taste of the southwest and is loving it. He would not be the first kid to make this kind of leap. It might be that I fear he would do just fine that far from home 
On the other hand, if he hates it, he is SO far from home. If UNM were in a smaller, less urban area, I’d probably feel better about it. I say this because when we looked at Northeastern his response was that it was way too urban. We kind of botched the college tour piece by not looking at UNM. He wasn’t super serious about it, made plans to go to AZ instead of NM, and now all of a sudden he is serious about UNM. Kind of hard to ignore such a great financial deal. On the other hand, it’s a big public university where you might be taking those first year classes with 200 of your best friends. He is admitted to the honors college though, so perhaps that will shrink the school for him?
^^^ Yep the honors college does shrink the college somewhat. And having a larger class size for your intro classes isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And urban in Boston (Northeastern) is much different than urban in ABQ. Very. Son spent a summer at Harvard’s school of public health doing research and it was extremely different than his summer in Abq.
And since he has been to AZ and TX he has a feel for the area. Santa Fe and Taos were both great trips for daughter. She went cliff diving, rock climbing, snowboarding, camping, hiking, and fishing with all the friends she made at UNM. She joined the local church and finished up her sacraments there. She really embraced the school, campus and the surrounding area. She went to the balloon races and visited special Zuni dances that were invite only from a dear friend she made whose father enabled her to participate. Like I said, her adventures far exceeded my imagination. Her classics professor organized trips to Rome and was a very specialized visit based on certain research they were working on. When she was there classes in Navajo were being offered and since she had so much Latin she jumped at the chance for a new language.
Her PE requirements were met with flamenco dance, hip hop and softball. As a D1 athlete she was thrilled to take something so far from what was her comfort zone. Constructing her schedule each semester was so much fun and never a chore for that very reason. She needed physics for pre-med but ended up taking so many more classes in physics because she enjoyed it so much!
The advantage of a large public that is NM’s flagship provided daughter so many wonderful choices and opportunities. And no UNC-CH and NCSU do not teach classes in flamenco dance or Navajo!! Both are great schools, several of my other children have graduated from both but UNM was such an adventure in combination with the Amigo and other scholarships daughter was awarded both in freshman year and after. She did receive additional awards in sophomore, junior and senior years that left her with no oop.
Her work study job her freshman year led to a fantastic research opportunity that paid much better after she no longer needed the work study due to her other awards after matriculating. She was at that job all 4 years and ended up published. Great LORs for professional school. She had a nice scholarship for books from coach and did not feel deprived as she had in high school (she had more discretionary income than at home).
Since your son has traveled and loves the area, I would encourage him to think very seriously about UNM. Daughter turned down some very good schools (U of Penn, Tulane, UNC++) for what she considered a great adventure.
It really isn’t about the school but what your son does while he is there. And the green chile is just a good as the BBQ here!
Kat
You mentioned Texas A&M. If your son is NMSF(National Merit) then the costs should be in your price range, I think, with the out of state tuition waiver and guaranteed scholarship package.
@katwkittens Thank you!!