“my guidance counselor thought I should try and expand my horizons to some out of state universities.”
Your guidance counselor is not paying your tuition!
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@mom2collegekids I have done extensive research on a lot of the fl colleges, but my guidance counselor thought I should try and expand my horizons to some out of state universities.
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@delanicorn Your GC is looking at this from purely “expand horizons” perspective. Your GC probably has no idea how much your parents will pay. Did you tell your GC how much your parents will pay?
GC’s are notorious for ignoring the “paying for college” aspect and often give (stupid) advice that FA will take care of costs…when in reality, in most cases, FA does NOT.
Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay? If not, please do so.
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I always liked clemson but they give very little financial aid.
need some more college options that are cheaper tuition for myself and my parents.
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Your above words and your thread title suggest strongly that your parents have either told you that they won’t/can’t pay a lot or you know your family’s financial situation is not strong.
This is likely a fool’s errand unless you qualify for a big FA package at a private university that meets full need or have stats high enough to get a full ride at a public, and there are very few as good as your in-state options.
Actually, I think it’s good your guidance counselor is making you look beyond the obvious. YOUR job is to find OOS colleges that won’t be too expensive, right - not just any random OOS college. I think we can suggest colleges and you can run the NPC. (Plus, if one of your criteria is “snow”, it’d make sense your GC mentioned OOS 
:D).
Overall, it’s going to be hard to find a university that meets all criteria.
It’s help GREATLY if you could tell us
1° your parents’ actual budget (what they told you they can afford each year off income and savings, no loan factored in)
2° your stats (GPA, any PSAT score/PLAN/practice test results, any AP)
I came here to say Appalachian State but saw it’d already been listed. OP, that’s probably the closest you’ll get to all your criteria, and they have merit scholarships.
What about UScranton or Illinois Wesleyan? Both meet most of your criteria.
Another great possibility: Loyola Maryland - their sports teams aren’t bad but not superb… however you get heavily discounted for pro games in town!!! They have excellent merit aid, have occasional snow, very good programs (especially the business school).
Saint Louis University is also worth looking into since I think the meet most of your criteria.
For the rest, you’ll have to relax some of your criteria.
In New York City, you have Saint John’s University. Academically, not that great, but you have snow and excellent basketball. St Bonaventure has excellent basketball and isn’t in a big city. Temple has excellent merit aid (automatic full tuition + 2X $4,000 stipend for an ACT 32), has snow, excellent basketball, but is in a big city.
Butler and Creighton both have excellent basketball, lots of snow, strong academics, but am uncertain about financial aid for your stats at Butler (better odds at Creighton).
Lake Forest is smaller than desired but easy access to Chicago Sports, good academics, snow.
Iowa State, UNebraska, UWyoming, UMontana would all have plenty of snow and a college town, run the NPC to have an idea of merit.
If you don’t mind A LOT of snow, Syracuse, SUNY Buffalo, St Lawrence, WPI…
I second Iowa State University. They give some nice ‘automatic’ merit. With decent stats and 4 years of foreign language can get 8K/year. Check out the calculator which takes about 2 min: https://www.admissions.iastate.edu/award_calc/index.php
I know many people who have gone there and all had great experiences. Good luck!
University of Kansas is a great option also. It has a beautiful campus in a neat small city. Historic Mass St with loads of great local restaurants and bars is just a short walk from campus. The school has a great feel. They also have their ‘auto’ scholarships posted. http://admissions.ku.edu/cs#NonresidentFreshmen
Their honors program is considered one of the best for public universities. The basketball games are just amazing if you are into sports. The overall school spirit is fantastic.
Ohio University in Athens. Meets most of your criteria (midwest, basketball, medium-large in a small town, snow) although there’s a good deal of partying. They also have reasonable tuition, and offer merit aid to out-of-state students with above average stats.
OP should know that winters in Iowa are similar to Chicago-area, central to northern IL winters. We had a kid at U of Iowa - winter is about the same, just without all that pesky plowing on main roads that you get in big metro areas like Chicago or Minneapolis.
Basically, do not go to Iowa expecting a mild winter. The plains states in winter can be brutal for someone coming from a warmer climate.
Wichita State University has a great basketball program. Kansas State University has a great football program. University of Kansas has already been mentioned - great basketball.
Info regarding merit aid at Clemson . If you rank in the top 10% of you class and score 1250 on the SAT of 28 or higher , you are eligible for $7500 of aid as an OOS . If your scores increase to 1440
on the SAT or 32 on the ACT, you are eligible for $ 15,000 .
we liked Clemson…the problem is that the OOS tuition is VERY high for a public…$33k per year (just for tuition…not including room, board, books, etc).
with OOS rate so high, it can make a nice merit award much less meaningful…especially if each year has a tuitio increase.