Reality check (private colleges & merit aid) & whether it's worth it to research/apply

Your S would get full tuition and honors college at U of Akron which is still strong in STEM, especially engineering. Might be a good safety school to add to the list.

RPI could come close to budget with merit $ (COA would have been $38K for us with D’s merit awards).

Purdue has a great pharmacy program but their COA for OOS would be closer to $40K and they aren’t great with aid.