DD 2025 lives in VA and is not interested in going to college in-state. We would not qualify for any need based aid. Can folks please suggest colleges that are generous with merit based scholarships (close to full ride). Her stats are 3.85 UW, 4.35 W, 13 AP courses, excellent EC (Drum Major, fellow as global leadership, Volunteer Coach, Hospital volunteer hours, etc), No test scores as many cancellations in our area.
Preferably in the East Coast.
Not many on the East Coast. South and West are your best bets. If National Merit later, Fordham has a full tuition scholarship. Pittsburgh has some nice scholarships. If she does well on the PSAT her junior year, the full ride (or close) National Merit schools include U of Florida, FSU, UCF, Texas Tech, UT-Dallas. University of Miami has generous merit that can be stacked with the state’s National Merit program to get to a full ride. Otherwise, many schools (besides Ivys) have full ride scholarships that are extremely limited in number and getting one is akin to winning the lottery. Examples are Stamps Scholarships at many schools.
@vistajay: thanks for your reply. She is currently a senior. What do you mean by National Merit schools? She did not make it to the National Merit Finalist list.
With her stat would she get a generous amount from Fordham?
A full ride (full tuition plus room and board) is unlikely.
Fordham merit can vary, as high as full tuition unlikely as well.
What is her budget? What is your FAFSA EFC?
We found quite a few universities that came down to about $40,000 per year with merit with similar stats. Getting lower than that for us only happened with in-state public schools and universities in Canada. We did not look in the south.
A lot of students, probably a majority, go to in-state public universities because that is what they can afford. In many cases the parents have to set a budget and stick with it.
I do know a parent from Massachusetts whose daughter did not like U.Mass and wanted to attend UVM, and another parent from Vermont whose daughter did not want to attend UVM and wanted to go to U.Mass. Of course both daughters ended up in a major where both universities are quite good.
@Mwfan1921: our budget is around 30k which is what our in-state colleges cost.
I still have not finished FAFSA but my guess is it will be very high as our household income is very high and we only have 1 dependent.
I read somewhere that University of Alabama is also generous. Anyone’s experience regarding their merit scholarships?
Anyone have any experience with RAISEME dollars accumulated throughout HS?
Info is here
https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/
She would get $28,000 reducing OOS direct costs from $45k to $17k 
Many students are also awarded other scholarships on top, especially once admitted to the Honors College, and specialist programs. My D got enough she is essentially tuition-free and we only pay for room, board etc.
@CollegeMamb0: Thanks! Will definitely look into it.
Also check out specialist programs such as Randall Research Scholars, University Fellows and Blount Liberal Arts… lots going on a Bama besides football and Greek Life.
Covid-wise if this is a concern for you: there are classes in person and football games, but the university has been rather lax about testing for Covid.
@2021YayCollege , sorry thought you were saying she was younger. National Merit schools refers to schools that give large scholarships to National Merit Finalists who choose that college as their first choice with the National Merit Corp.
Yes, Alabama is a good one to look at. South Carolina has some very good OOS scholarships. If she got the OOS tuition waiver at FSU, her total annual cost would be about $21,000.
@2021YayCollege (Note: Here people generally use the year of HS graduation to denote age of student, not college graduation. So your DD is DD2021 or DD’21.)
Midwest schools tend to be less expensive than East Coast if she’s interested in that. Lots of them have automatic merit charts.
Iowa State and Nebraska. Not too hard to get under 30K/year at either of those with merit.
University of Missouri also gives a lot of merit aid. My daughter was just accepted and based on her GPA and test scores she was given an out of state tuition waiver- which ends up being about 18K a year. This brings tuition down to 10,500. She is also invited to apply for Honors College scholarships that can stack on top of the merit scholarship. Her stats: GPA 4.1 ACT 30
Not east coast…but these should all come in below your target price:
University of New Mexico
University of Arizona
University of Alabama
In addition, check the OOS cost for the SUNY colleges. You might find these close to your price point even as an OOS student if you add in your student’s Direct Loan amount.
A lot of public southern schools have generous merit-based FA! If you are open to Canadian schools I would check out McGill, but you may need a test score for their scholarship.
Not sure what size school you are looking for. Have you looked at any private schools? She could get good merit if she is in the top percentage (25%?) of their stats.
My DC’s stats were higher but received good merit from McDaniel (MD), Juniata, (PA), Allegheny (PA), St. Mary’s (MD). All were below $30K per yr. Check out the schools on the Colleges That Change Lives website.
Some other smaller options, Susquehanna, Depauw, and Ohio Wesleyan all gave my D great merit packages. She got nothing from Fordham or American University. LMU, Gettysburg, Butler, Univ of SF, Dickinson, Hobart, & Marist all gave in the 20-25k range which still left their net price around 40-50k. Her UW GPA was about the same as your D’s but she had a good ACT score but few EC’s. Schools in the northeast tend to be the most expensive.