Detroit is certainly not as large as Chicago as an industrial area though. I’ve said previously, probably 75-80% of the students I knew from Michigan went to one of Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, or NYC areas for work. Very few seem to end up employed in SE Michigan. Within IOE specifically, it was probably like 50% Chicago. On one hand, yes, it shows that firms in Chicago recruit heavily at Michigan, but on the other there’s practically no advantage geography-wise to Michigan over UIUC. And there’s no way I can believe that Michigan has significantly better access to Chicago than UIUC does.
In the country at broad I’m sure Michigan has a slight edge over UIUC in recruiting, but I just can’t believe it’s hugely different or different enough to justify 90K cost difference. Put it this way, would he be better off getting a bachelors from Michigan or bachelors and masters from UIUC (and getting an extra internship opportunity in the process), because that would still be cheaper for him at UIUC than just the bachelors at Michigan.