This sounds like Tufts to me. 5500 undergrads, excellent engineering, top-notch need-based aid.
Easy access to Boston/Cambridge, and also great outdoor recreation opportunities including a Mountain Club with its own lodge (“Loj”) in New Hampshire.
https://students.tufts.edu/orientation/pre-orientation/two-tufts-wilderness-orientation
https://tuftsmountainclub.org/
It’s in the “reach for everybody” category but he certainly has the stats to be a competitive applicant, and coming from an under-represented state would give him an edge.