15-20k isn’t anything to write off but yeah, that sounds a lot more reasonable. Where would the money come from and how much total would you be in debt for each?
Overall I think NEU / Rutgers are pretty comparable. If Rutgers has as many opportunities as you say (I don’t know Rutgers well) then it would be somewhat comparable to co-op. If you can afford the difference then I don’t think choosing either one over the other would be a mistake.
That said, make sure Rutgers has equal opportunities to NEU’s co-op. NEU has the #1 ranked career services department and that is a big leg up.