I respectfully disagree a bit here. UP is indeed Catholic, a huge feather in its cap in terms of educational quality - although not like the Jesuits (ok, I graduated from a Jesuit college so I might be biased). But the high tuition does not mean it does not have a middle and a lower class segment of students. UP, like most Catholic colleges (except maybe Santa Clara and Georgetown), offers excellent merit and need-based aid resulting in a fairly diverse socio-economic group of students there (every year my son's high school send a few kids there, and they are solidly middle class).Most of the posters would recommend you focus on comparing the schools, not the AFROTC programs, as the latter are more or less indistinguishable - also, detachment cadres turn over frequently.
Regarding the academics and the environment, you should think carefully about what you want to study and then investigate these schools' offerings in those focus areas: their courses, research opportunities, academic reputation. In general, if you're inclined toward technical subjects, then Texas Tech would be preferred. It's aiming to be a Tier One research university and has made major investments to boost its research and offerings in multiple areas.
Culturally, the schools and the experience for each are quite different.
- UP is a very small, very expensive Catholic institution located in a leafy area of one of the nation's most culturally liberal cities: 76% of Mutnomah County OR voters went for Clinton in 2016.
- UP is run by the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic order of priests and brothers. Relatively few of the students there will be from working-class or even middle-class backgrounds. Most will have grown up on the West Coast.
- Texas Tech is a huge public university in Lubbock, a Bible Belt region dominated by cotton growing and now, fracking. 67% of Lubbock County TX voters went for Trump in 2016.
- Most Texas Tech students will be from middle- or working-class backgrounds. Nearly all will be from Texas.
There is a bridge underpass in the Los Angeles area where one side is Los Angeles and the other side is another city. The cops in the other city prevent homeless from living under their side of the bridge. However, the other side is in LA and the cops leave the homeless alone. So one side is clean and the other is dirtyMy daughter went to UP but as an Army ROTC cadet. She had several friends and even roommates who were AFROTC cadets. I will agree with unknown1961 about the demographics of the school. My daughter was raised in very pro military, conservative household and generally shared those views but never talked politics so it was reality a non-issue anyway. That being said, she graduated in 2014 and Portland has changed substantially for the worse since then. Their own city council is pretty much anti-police and have instructed the police to back off on transient related crime so the city is filthy in places. Even my left leaning friends that live there are up in arms over what's being allowed.
All the above being said, the school itself is miles from downtown and seems immune from the transient issues. The campus is small but that also means small classes and better access to teachers. Their nursing program is top notch and the technology available to nursing students is pretty much mind blowing. My daughter loved the school and her experience overall but she missed going to football games like larger colleges have and wished there was more variety in food options (that could have changed by now).