It’s all about the co-op program. Decide how much you are interested in it.
If doing the co-op really interests you, then NEU obviously wins.
If the co-op is not important to you, then U.Richmond is better.
There is no doubt that U.Richmond offers better academics in the classroom, but outside the classroom NEU has the co-op plus the city of Boston (for career networking, not entertainment).
Student-Faculty Ratio is perhaps the most ignored statistic about colleges, but it is very important.
NEU has a ratio of 13 to 1, which is not bad, but U.Richmond easily beats that at 8 to 1. This is a major reason why UR has better academics.