Remind them who is going to school. You will be somewhere, four years, day after day and it matters that you are where you want to be.
Vandy engineering isn’t all that for the cost - it will be more geographically diverse than Rice. But neither has ABET accreditation for environmental, enough reason to remove them from consideration if that’s the definite major. Yea Vandy has Civil but I don’t think that’s what you’re after. Rice has Environmental but it doesn’t appear to be included in the accreditation - just Civil. You might contact Rice to validate.
Frankly, they don’t seem to be schools worth pursuing given your interests and given the importance of accreditation.
Not to mention they don’t interest YOU and that’s what matters most.
Oh and thrifting - my kid thrifts everywhere - it is everywhere - not just LA.
Good luck