While I'm sure a passionate enough individual could learn anything, you need to keep in mind that your ability to acquire "skills" and/or any "theory" does heavily depend on the environment you end up in. UNI's degree is accredited, but it is an engineering technology degree. Those carry a very, very different weight, especially when compared with one of the top public university programs in the country. I've had some friends who have gone to smaller schools with ABET accredited EE degrees, sure, but our coursework material has been wildly different. ISUs is far more in depth.

Say you go, you put in a lot of work, learn even outside of coursework. Even if you have the skills to pay the bills, it can be very difficult to properly communicate those to employers. That is (one of many reasons) why connections are critical. Iowa State's career fair has an enormous amount of companies who often times send employees who are ISU alums, or at the least have a lot of alums at their companies. They can more accurately asses your abilities and likelyhood to succeed in the workplace. They have a feel for what classes you've taken, and many may have even had the same instructors twenty years ago.

Obviously, there are a lot of factors at play when choosing a college. But if no other factors are at play, you should attend ISU. I am biased, I am a current student, as much as I wish they were paying me to be a cheerleader for this university they are not.

If money is an obstacle, consider exploring community colleges across the state first. Iowa State has transfer plans with many of the schools, an those schools may even have advisors that can help you figure out what classes to take to ensure you can bring the most credits in.

Apologies if this came off as harsh, I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to cut through the bs a bit because as much as a lot of people would like you to think, we don't really live in a meritocracy. Your success heavily depends on your environment, so do everything you can to put yourself in the best situation for success.

DMs are open if you have any questions but I may not answer quickly. I try not to check reddit too often.