I don’t know if he wants to end up in NC/VA permanently, but both would be comfortable for him. He loves the mountains of western VA and NC, and really seems happy when there’s some nature accessible. He definitely wants to stay out of the deep red states. For college he’s indicated that he wants it to be driveable in a day (even if it’s a really long day) so CalPolySLO not, but maybe something mid-west-y.
Oh App State. We had a tour scheduled for App State, and it would’ve been on the way and an easy stopping point as we drove from Va Tech down to Clemson. Like, literally not even 30 minutes out of the way. And we didn’t go because he said “I just can’t see telling people that I’m going to App State, I just don’t think I’ll feel proud of that.” In general he’s not a prestige oriented kid, not at all, but somehow that was just not something he felt he could be happy about. Which is disappointing because you’re right - it’s got everything he wants major-wise, it’s in exactly the location he loves (we drove down on the Blue Ridge Parkway and got off repeatedly to hike - he really loves Western NC), it would be totally affordable at sticker price and yes, he’d probably get good money.
We live in VA right outside DC, and in a hyper competitive really comparative snobby area (this is also what soured him on UVA, felt just like home, not in a good way). While he can normally brush that off, here he just can’t.
My sister and BIL went to ECU - I tend to forget it’s not just for teachers since that’s what they do. 
I’ll have to take another look.