Always:  I agree with your 12 year old son.  The U of O is not a very good college.   As far as in state colleges I would recommend Oregon State.   I believe the U of O was a good college before Uncle Phil got involved and took it over.  Yes, our daughter went to the U of O,   of course we left the decision of where to go up to her.  We are very proud of her as she got a bunch of degrees, several of which we do not care for but she did it all on Academic Scholarships with a 4.0gpa.  We were prepared to pay for her education however her intelligence payed off as she was a 4.0 gpa in high school as well.  Our son pretty much the same scenario .  You have to be a sharp tack as well to graduate and receive a EE Degree.  Both are off working very good jobs.  You are absolutely   correct in telling your son you can pretty much do what you want with a EE or ME degree.  Our son started out making $100,000.00/year and its going nowhere but up each year.  I think he is currently (cont.)