Sorry but I agree with @eyemgh
I visited Union NY and RPI on our school trips.
Both were friendly and open to discuss directly with profs as a visitor.
But when I asked a Union prof about upper level specialty classes, his answer was “you can learn that on the job”.
Well first you have to get the job. Second, I am paying tuition to a school, same tuition at both schools, but a very different set of courses offered. In the end, the main thing you are buying is the ability to take courses, for an undergrad student. Yes there are lots of intangibles, but coursework leading to a useful degree is what you primarily pay for. Looking at the facilities for a mech eng, Union NY had an old warehouse full of cobwebs with what looked like our high school machine shop. RPI had a lab that was more similar to a major manufacturer. For someone who does not know what they want to do with life, a small liberal arts college may be a great place to continue your education and find yourself. But most engineering aspirants are more career focused. We only looked at small LA colleges due to athletic recruiting, and opened up to those with small engineering programs. So lucky my son ended up recruited by a school with the more substantive academic curriculum. Being with more STEM kids at RPI he is learning from other students, from top quality faculty, it is undergrad focused (more than a big univ). I feel a small tech school gives the best of both worlds, relevant coursework but not treated like a number. Didn’t feel comfortable after visiting Union that my kid would get as good an education as RPI, WPI.
I also agree with the comment about participating in your own thread. I almost did not respond for that reason.
Clarification during a two way convo is useful. Like why “a liberal arts college”, do you mean small or undergrad focused or less engineering, more liberal arts courses and WHY? I will not comment further on this without feedback from OP.