New Mexico is definitely worth considering, but I’m not sure why NM Tech would win over UNM for this student. He can get into UNM and get the “WUE+” rate, and pay the same as in-state students (<28K/year). It has a strong math program and a strong classics department that even offers grad-level study. (Also a linguistics department, fwiw… they even have a concentration in Navajo linguistics, which probably isn’t relevant, but if he ever wanted to study the Code Talkers from a mathematical perspective, that could be pretty cool!) It’s more convenient to get to UNM, right in Albuquerque, than to NM Tech, an hour+ from ABQ.
I guess there’s the possibility that he might get a significant merit scholarship from NMT, that could tip the balance in that direction. But at near-cost-parity (about a 2K difference per year for WUE+), I would think the flagship would be a better fit.