<p>Some schools make merit aid pretty automatic. Check out the Michigan State Honors College, for example:</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> for Incoming Freshmen](<a href=“http://honorscollege.msu.edu/scholarships/incoming_freshmen.html]Scholarships”>http://honorscollege.msu.edu/scholarships/incoming_freshmen.html)</p>
<p>You’re very close to stats that would trigger an automatic merit-based aid package that includes tuition remission, $8,000/year in merit aid plus a $2300 annual stipend for working as research assistant to a professor. They also have some (apparently discretionary) additional merit scholarship funds available and it’s worth talking to them in advance about your chances of getting that. It seems to me you’re just the kind of OOS student they’re trying to attract. This is not quite a full ride, perhaps, but with summer jobs and such you could possibly swing it. All you need to do is re-take the ACT and bump your score up one point from 32 to 33 and you’re home free. I can’t imagine you wouldn’t get accepted: they have an admit rate of 73% and your stats are stratospheric compared to their 75th percentile, and you’re clearly in the range they’re looking for in their Honors College. It’s not a bad school, comparable in some ways to Minnesota–they tie for 71st in USNews rankings, though I think Minnesota has a few more high quality departments/programs.</p>
<p>Look, the main point is to give you leverage with Mom & Dad by showing them you have other options, right? So get that ACT up to 33 and you can make a pretty persuasive case that because you can go to college on your own at Michigan State, they really ought to reconsider and pay for you to go to Minnesota and live on-campus as you had originally planned. Either way you’ll be on your own, but if they cave and do it your preferred way you’ll be closer to home and the family relationship will be less strained. </p>
<p>It’s also worth searching around for other automatic triggers like this. No better ammunation in the discussion than hard data,</p>