@billcsho, thank you! I do not know much about the midwest student exchange program because we were only targeting private schools for DD1 and 2. I do know that Illinois has one of the highest in-state tuition/fees rate in the country. And that they give next to zero in merit. Ugh. On the other hand, we are lucky to have such a highly rated Engineering/CS school! Our challenge will be deciding if the rating/ resources, etc. are worth the money when he could potentially get full tuition or a full ride elsewhere.