My understanding is that if your son is a good student, he shouldn’t have a hard time getting into Mech E at MSU.
My son applied and was admitted to MSU engineering - it was his first admit actually. So I researched it somewhat. We have family there… from what I can gather, they have a very active job fair for engineers, and plenty of people recruit there. UMich has a better overall reputation, but I talked to a guy who works at Ford and he said they recruit just as much out of MSU as they do from UMich – so if your son is a strong student, he’s going to have plenty of job prospects.
My son did ED to VT and was admitted so that’s where we’re going. The main reason is that we get in state tuition, which even with a scholarship to MSU (not as much as your sons but still good), VT was cheaper. He also liked the campus, likes the food at VT and the setting.