Would you be willing to share the list of schools where COA is less than ~$10,000/yr? (Or is your premise that all students live within commuting distance of a 4 yr university and they will live at home? Even so, a lot of IL students are attending Bama b/c their tuition rates are high, higher than $10,000/yr.)
When universities offer merit $$ to in-state students, does it have a positive impact on the state? I don’t know the answer, and honestly, I am too lazy to google it. But I wonder if keeping their top students in-state vs. having them attend elsewhere influences students to stay in-state after graduation and benefits the state. (I am not sure that OOS students are likely to stay, but I have no idea about that either.) I do believe that if the options are paying full-pay in-state or paying fairly equivalent cost at privates across the country, more top students would leave their state schools. Would that impact the state institutions?
Based on the posts in this thread, I am assuming that the belief is that merit scholarships should not exist and that only those qualifying for need-based aid should receive financial support, regardless of academic performance? If you hold that view, do you think that scholarships like the Jefferson, Park, and Morehead should be abolished?