MissedApp,
Being a Riddle grad myself (although I did not do my flight training there), I thought I would chime in here. I am currently at Flight Safety at 32 yrs old with a PPL and working on the rest... (took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up!
First, I would suggest you go back and take a look at Doug Taylor's posts on this subject. He is also a Riddle grad, has a good perspective on what a Riddle degree is worth, and is obviously qualified to comment.
Second, from my own perspective, I think you are in a great position right now. Having excellent grades and test scores certainly gives you a lot of options. One thing I would like to make clear though is that getting a degree from a non-aviation school does NOT mean you cannot be a pilot. In fact, most pilots don't have degrees from an aviation school. If you are currently being offered a full-ride from ASU, I would jump all over that.
The benefits are obvious:
1. Any engineering degree will be looked at favorably by any potential employer (good backup in case you decide you do not want to fly for a living). 2. If you decide to go the AE route AND fly, you could hardly pick a better degree. Although most major airline pilot's have 4yr degrees, not that many have it in a rigorous discipline like AE. 3. You could begin flying and working on your licenses at a local FBO or flight school while you go to school. 4. Or, if it would be too much of a distraction while working on your degree, you might wait until graduation and THEN go into flight training full-bore locally. Another option would be to go to one of the Academies like Flight Safety or Comair where things are set up to do it at an accelerated pace after graduation from college. All of these options plus no debt for the degree make the the ASU-then-flight-school option tough to beat.
However, if your heart is set on going to ERAU specifically to do the Aeronautical Science program, I certainly wouldn't discourage it. The only thing is...for this option to payoff, I think you need to KNOW right now that flying is what you want to do for a living. In that case, I think you would get a great education. But, if you later decided flying isn't what you wanted to do after all, an Aeronautical Science degree from ERAU would be no better to a potential employer than UNDERWATER BASKETWEAVING from PODUNK U.
Maybe Doug could throw in another .02 here!
PS. If I had it to do all over again, I would have tried to get into the AirForce Academy and fly in the military. Great education, free, good possibility of flight in the AF (super preparation for an airline career later on).
Good Luck,
Scott