BP – you are in a good situation for D2. You also have PLENTY of company – check out the merit aid thread. There’s a reason it is 111 pages long.
Give us a few more parameters and you’ll quickly have a solid list of 20 or more schools to consider. Big/small, urban/suburban/rural, region, weather, academic program interest, fit/vibe (greek, nerdy, sporty, preppy, techy, artsy, goth, religious/secular, whatever). That’s a lot more efficient for you than having people toss out a lot of one-off suggestions that wil be all over the place. Bama and Bryn Mawr are both good merit schools but, obviously, are in different collegiate galaxies.
Biggest parameter is what you think your realistic budget is. SC, for example, has a sticker price of about $66k. If your kid gets a half tuition schollie (about $25k off), can you pay the remaining $41k? A net price of about $40k is the sweet spot for the merit money game. Lots of options in that price range and not very hard to pull off. If your budget is instead $20k a year, that’s fine as well. But the search will have to be a lot more focused.
Overview. Look at the USNWR rankings. Basically zero merit money in the top 15. From 15-30, you start to see some merit money, but it tends to be more competitive (separate applications, leadership and ECs matter). The 30+ band is where you start to see the more automatic, stats-based merit money. That where some of CCs most favorite merit money schools (CWRU, Northeastern, Miami, Tulane) tend to be. Most of the merit money destinations are those kind of privates. And then there are the OOS big state Us with honors colleges who also play the merit game (Bama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Oklahoma).
Good luck!