I know more than a handful of kids who went to h.s. with my kids, who going to schools like Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina and getting very little merit money, if any, as they don’t have the stats. Why are they choosing to pay OOS rates for these schools? Because their stats are too low to get into UMD, our in-state university, and they want that “big school, good football/school spirit” experience and their parents are willing to indulge them. Even with good stats, it is difficult to get into UMD.