[guydon]

These are rated top ten from Edmunds...

1. University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University: It's a toss-up as to whether Michigan, Michigan State or Michigan Tech will produce the best automotive engineers in the future. Alumni from all three can be found at most automotive-related companies. Potential students will have to decide which best fits their needs, but any of these three have to be considered a top choice.
2. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) : Purdue has long produced top engineers for Detroit and its suppliers. IUPUI boasts a motorsports engineering program. Ryan Newman, one of the very few NASCAR drivers who graduated from college, holds an engineering degree from Purdue.
3. Cornell University: The Ithaca, New York, institution is not a traditional automotive school, but any university that has eight FSAE championships to its credit has to be on this list. In addition, Cornell is one of the few colleges to enter both the Automotive X Prize competition and the DARPA driverless vehicle event.
4. Kettering University: Despite having fewer than 3,000 students, Kettering University produces far more than its share of industry personnel. Located in Flint, Michigan, the school formerly known as General Motors Institute offers degrees in management as well as engineering.
5. University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Arlington and Texas A&M University: At least as heated as the debate among Michigan-based schools is that involving UT Austin, UT Arlington and Texas A&M. The three have combined for more than a dozen wins in FSAE, FSAE West and FSAE Japan competition, so you'll have to make your own choice among them.
6. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: Virginia Tech regularly produces a competitive FSAE team — it has one championship — and scored a 3rd-place finish in the 2007 DARPA competition. Also, its campus is close to the center of the U.S. racing industry in North Carolina. In addition, I've personally worked with several Hokie engineers who are some of the best drivers you've never heard of.
7. University of California, Davis: It was a challenge to pick from among Cal Davis, Cal Berkeley, Stanford and Cal Tech, as all have programs that seek to find the future of personal transportation. Most enter more than one of the touchstone competitions. However, our experts said Cal Davis students typically possessed more practical experience.
8. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and California Polytechnic State University, Pomona: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona also have programs that are worthy of consideration. The former's College of Engineering has produced a winning Supermileage team. The latter has placed in the prestigious Formula SAE Collegiate Design Series.
9. Clemson University: By itself, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) would make Clemson a contender for this list. In addition, the South Carolina school has a strong vehicle dynamics program and is located within 160 miles of almost every NASCAR shop.
10. Georgia Institute of Technology: Based in the middle of booming Atlanta, Georgia Tech has long been an automotive powerhouse with a strong FSAE team. In addition it has a respected design school. Not insignificantly, its mascot is a 1930 Ford Model A Sports coupe.

Then there is also WYO tech, UTI, and if you are staying in NC, there are a lot of little schools that do performance hot rod building and so on. By the way GI bill will cover a lot more than it used to. The new GI bill came out in Aug and it hooks you up, if you are a full time student, on campus!

Good luck, and congrats on getting your DD214!!!!!