If you want a safety school with great merit, Grand Valley in Allendale, MI has auto merit that automatically comes with instate tuition, plus additional merit, so it will be well below 25k. They have a great engineering program, and their program, along with several others, are housed in downtown Grand Rapids. There is a bus that connects the two campus, and the buses in Grand Rapids are free for students. There is a hockey stadium in Grand Rapids that is pretty popular to attend, at least among students. There are also over 400 clubs and there is an engineering LLC and a Women in STEM LLC with very nice apartment style dorms and they have decent food.
If you have any questions, I am a current student who loves their time there.