Look at Penn state, Pitt, Trmple. Or the Illinois ones. I’ve heard Va is getting up there too even for instate. And some Colorado state schools.
One of my kids went to an OOS public school, and though it was nearly double the cost of what we would have paid in state, it was still a good $20k or more cheaper than the private school options. Private schools are running $60 to $80k+ these days. I think all of the ones I listed as Fairtest examples were in that range and that was back some years.
I suspect that merit awards are hard to come by if you don’t submit test scores because a lot of the scholarships weight that component heavily in deciding to offer merit money. I speculate that need aware schools might take the lack of test scores into account too, but I have no evidence. But then if the scores are so low that they are an anchor to the chances of acceptance, it’s not like the kid is in the running for merit anyways. Frankly, I don’t think OP’s son is that lacking in his test scores. For my one kid, it was a no brainer to leave them off when we could. And yet, he got into schools where they were sent, so ???
Absolutely agree that OP should establish how much is available for college and run NPCs for each school, and if the costs don’t meet affordability standards, it’s not a viable choice.