For some reason I can’t edit my original post to include some of these details, but he doesn’t want to attend any private university or college where religion plays a role.
He wants a mid to large R1 university (He wants to get his phd after his undergraduate). He does not want rural. Does not care about school sports or the big rah rah campuses.
We’d like to keep tuition costs under $40k/year (understanding that housing, food, travel will add to this). He won’t qualify for anything need-based and we will be paying out of pocket fully. We definitely don’t want to be paying $80k/yr out of pocket, but we can afford ~$40-60k/year.