Funny you should mention it...but.... Funny you bring it up, it's been well over a decade since I graduated, but RIT alumni here!
The RIT DC hub was the shit back in the day....
Back in the day there was nothing underground about it, at least for CS students. :) Connecting to the DC hub was a right of passage. So I am speaking from experience. :)
Public school? Probably not. Tech school? Absolutely.