Best Universities for my High School Child to Attend Near Washington D.C.?

We are new to the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area.

My kid always had his heart set on going to one of the UC schools since we lived in California and there was a transfer agreement between the many of the UC schools and California Community Colleges.

Now that we relocated out here for the long haul due to my work; my kid who just entered high school last year is no longer pursuing any UC schools due to the pit of state tuition increase.

I know Georgetown University, George Mason University and George Washington University are all private and I’m sure they’re all leagues apart from each other but as someone completely new to the area I am left wondering what my high school kid can look forward to when he graduates in 3 years.

 

FYI - George Mason is a public university.
Great school. Very Many students are commuter and/or live at home students. There are a great many public and private universities in Virginia.

 

While public universities typically have a cheaper sticker price, he should also apply to private universities he can realistically get into. With scholarships and grants, private schools can be cheaper than public schools. Virginia and Pennsylvania are not known for funding their public universities well, so tuition is higher than the national average.

If you google "colleges and universities near DC," google will pull up a list of colleges in the area along with their average cost after aid.

 

A very good friend earned his Bachelors and Masters in Engineering from University of Maryland.
James Clark School of Engineering, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland.
He absolutely loves the school and strongly recommends it.

 

Virginia
- University of Virginia (Public)
- College of Williams and Mary (Public)
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) (Public)

Washington D.C
- Georgetown University (Private)
- George Washington University (Private)
- American University (Private)
- Catholic University of America (Private)

Maryland
- Johns Hopkins University (Private)
- University of Maryland at College Parks (Public)

About five hours drive
- University of Pensyvlania
- Princeton University
- Columbia University
- New York University
- Duke University
- University of North Carolina at Chappel Hill

Free -
- Naval Academy
- West Point

 

I spent a year at American University. Fantastic experience...but very expensive, like everything else in D.C. It was by far the most rigorous college experience I had in all of my education, but incredibly supportive environment, and it's actually a pretty small school by comparison to many others. AU is accessible by bus and metro - AU also offers a lot of scholarships and things for those who graduate from DC area high schools (at least I remember that they did...?)