Thanks @tk21769 for the insights and feedback!
@aquapt appreciate the Rose-Hulman suggestion. I’ve heard good things. Need to give it another look.
@eandesmom is correct. We didn’t mention need-based aid because we won’t qualify for any. I’ve run NPC on a few of the schools on our list and merit is showing around $17-22K for his stats. The $50K budget is our target, we can flex if we think it’s worth it.
Our son is on the spectrum with high functioning autism and we believe large schools would be overwhelming. It’s the reason we’re focused on small to mid-size schools. We know the UCs are bigger. They’re included at our son’s insistence–he’d really like to attend UCSC–and it might be that the small living communities at UCSC would make it more manageable.
We’re also leaning towards a school that’s more collaborative than competitive. He’s done better in that environment, and frankly that’s the way the tech industry is headed. I work in Silicon Valley at one of the big three and the culture is very collaborative.
We liked SCU when we toured but they plan to grow 600 students (about 10%) in the next two years with the new $300M STEM facility, that’s aggressive. We tour Seattle University and Portland in a week, and we’re hoping he likes one of those, given the intern/work opportunities in those areas, although I understand Portland’s department is rather small.
Denver’s engineering program may not be as deep as our son wants either, but we’re interested in its learning resource center. On paper it’s impressive, and we’d like for him to have the executive functioning support for the first year to help with the transition. Plus everyone who’s been there says DU is a lovely school 