It sounds as if you’re already done a pretty exhaustive search for schools that have the kind of program your daughter wants. There are some great schools that she could certainly get into; it’s the budget that’s going to limit her choices. (I’m assuming that you do mean $25-30K per year - sometimes when people say “total budget” they mean the total amount for all four years.)
So basically… NC State would be terrific and affordable, but first-year admission is not a sure thing, so you have 2+2 “feeder” schools on the list as well. SUNY ESF would be great and attainable admissions-wise, and it should be in-budget at their flagship-match rate, so she should have a four-year option that could well be preferable to a “feeder” situation.
The rest of your list consists entirely of OOS schools with great programs, but with OOS sticker prices well above your budget. (I believe Purdue could be added to that list also, and it’s less pricey than some of the others, but still unambiguously over-budget.) She could get merit at some, but probably not enough to get down to $25-30K/year.
There’s the question of whether private schools that meet need would give you enough aid to make budget, but for her interests, the only school I can think of is Cornell, which is pretty unlikely despite her very solid GPA. If the NPC shows an affordable price, she could lob an Early Decision application to CALS (which houses biological engineering and which is test-blind, so her SAT wouldn’t matter) - nothing to lose since she has no other ED options anyway - but it would be a moonshot.
But bottom line, she probably ends up at either NC State or SUNY ESF; and either would be a great outcome! Oregon State has a terrific program that I’d love to lobby for, and I’d say some merit is likely there, but it would be a pleasant surprise to see it bridge the gap.
This program is a little different from the ones you’ve identified; would it be close enough to what she wants? Environmental Resources Engineering, B.S. | Cal Poly Humboldt Cal Poly Humboldt’s OOS COA is estimated at about 38K/year, and it’s a very strong in ecologically-related fields. The first-year themed housing for students in this program is a nice enhancement: Baduwa't to Bay | Cal Poly Humboldt