<p>I won’t comment on your choice of majors (though my AE husband has always been employed, first in industry and now in academia, as are the friends he made through work back in the eighties). I just want to say that, as a rule of thumb, you should not take on student debt greater than your expected salary upon graduation. As an engineer, $50K would not be an unreasonable number. And, if you can get into Illinois your job prospects should be relatively good. (And that is not to take anything away from SUNY Buffalo.)</p>