For pre-med (and much else), the US and Canada are essentially in one academic system (kind of like how everything in Europe will eventually be standardized under Bologna).
I don’t think he has to worry about getting in to honor programs at many strong research unis (or LACs, nearly all of which will also offer all the support, resources, and opportunities he needs to get in to med school); including ND, BTW. Prestige almost doesn’t matter.
Med school and undergrad should be linked only if he applies to those combined BS/MD programs (lots of info on those on the internet).
So the key considerations are what you can afford, where he is in-state for, and stats for scholarshipss (it seems no NMS).
BTW, a few med schools are tuition-free now, though they are obviously extremely difficult to get in to (med school in the US in general is tough to get in to; kind of the opposite of France, where virtually anybody could try and then they weed out the vast majority).