Wow - this is a tough one.
Normally, I’d be on the NC State train - but CMU is one of those few colleges that might be worth the insane cost.
That said, that you’d have to pay back 1/3 to your parents - that would put it out of play to for me - that’s too much. That’s $125K+.
But you want research - can happen at either school - ask. That you’re in Honors should get you some connections.
Internships - not easy to get - schools may have listings but you’ll be the one to find them - and we don’t know how the market will be. In this case, NC State could hinder because your time there will be shorter and some kids don’t find an internship until after Junior year.
That you want to do a Masters tells me your best bang for the buck would be 3 years at NC State and then a Masters at CMU…easier said than done, of course.
You can look at career outcomes at each.
NC State graduated 145 CE students in Dec 23 and May 24. 137 responded to the survey . They reported salaries of $83,179 average and $81,250 median. Before the next person tries to say the data is useless, please note the counts - nearly every student responded to the survey.
For electrical, 102 of 117 grads reported an average of $81,925 and median $81,250. Also a very high response rate.
Grad schools attended include - CMU plus other top schools like Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, MIT, etc.
CMU shows 42 of 77 people working reporting salaries of $129K median and $122,891 on average for ECE. That 35 didn’t report might mean a downward bias - but as one would expect, it’s much higher than NC State.
That said, more people attend grad school at CMU than work.
Given NC State is placing at all the top schools (far more than I listed) and that you’d owe your parents well over $100K yourself, I could never recommend CMU.
But it certainly is one of those special schools so I can see the pull of it. That pull would likely put you in a hole though for many years - unless your parents forgave the loan.
Best of luck whatever you decide and congrats on such wonderful opportunities.