@Zinhead Thanks for the info. I agree that most OOS publics make no sense given UIUC is super strong in academic areas D is interested in. This will help us to keep our list short. Right now the only OOS public we are considering is UMich, but only if she is competitive for large merit there. I assume merit awards at UMich is holistic as well, right? Good thing is UMich admits by college and not by major. D is into STEM, but not set on any major yet.
Michigan typically does not give large merit awards for OOS students as they rely on the OOS tuition to support in-state tuition. I think $5,000 for tip top scores is about as good as you can expect, and it is holistic. If you are looking for merit, top CS schools that offer merit include CMU, Wisconsin, Rice, NYU, UChicago,Rochester, and Hopkins.
Frankly, given the high salaries for recent CS graduates, if she can get into the best CS schools like MIT, CalTech, Stanford and Berkeley, it is worthwhile paying full price if you don’t qualify for need based aid. If you do qualify for need based aid, these schools can be cheaper than UIUC.
@carbmom UIUC can not be considered a safety for your DD. There are several threads posted here by kids who received a 36 on the ACT and were rejected from CS or engineering. Also, as mentioned above, UofM does not give large merit scholarships to out of state students. I suggest starting a thread on the financial aid/scholarship or parents forum listing your daughter’s stats again, her major and asking for suggested schools. I think it’s great you are already starting the research on colleges.