<p>My nephew is having difficulty deciding on the following three choices for undergraduate electrical engineering.</p>
<p>1.UIUC Honors: OOS,only receives a small amount of need-based aid, total out of pocket expenses would be around 45k/yr for four years.</p>
<ol>
<li>USC: missed the deadline for scholarships but has received a financial package in which the large portion of the free money is in the form of grant, which is most likely to be reduced substantially in the following years after his sister graduates from college next year. The total cost for four years would then be similar to that for UIUC.</li>
</ol>
<p>3.Case Western Reserve University(CWRU): the generous financial package consists maninly of scholarships. Provided that he is able to keep them in subsequent years, the total out-of-pocket cost for four years would be 70k less compared to UIUC or USC.</p>
<p>His self comments so far:</p>
<p>1.Although not quite as high as USC on the USNews overall rankings, UIUC has a fabulous program in EE, at least at the graduate level, but would this be translated to benefits that the big crowd of undergraduates may take advantage of without fiercely competing with each other?</p>
<p>2.Although the undergraduate admission for USC has become more selective over the years, nephew still considers UIUC EE has an edge in terms of international reputation(he is a US citizen living overseas). Nevertheless the USC EE department has received some generous donations and is considered up and coming. </p>
<p>3.CWRU has a strong history on engineering education, but the EE program there is a relatively weak one when compared to EE and USC. Regardless, he finds the opportunity to study in smaller classs at a quality private school, and at a good price,hard to pass by.</p>
<p>Would the higher ranked UIUC or USC EE programs justify $70K more compared to CWRU? </p>
<p>Any inputs would be appreciated.</p>