<p>Northwestern and Notre Dame do not give merit scholarships, only need based aid, I believe. UMich does give some awards to out of state students, but not that many. Vanderbilt has some merit aid awards, again very few, and gives mostly need based aid.</p>
<p>He can apply to Vandy and UMich and MAYBE he will garner one of the merit awards, but if I were you and finances were a concern, I’d be looking into some other schools where he would be MORE likely to get merit aid.</p>
<p>The big question is how much are you willing to pay…because his merit aid would need to make up the difference. At some places, even a somewhat generous award might not do so…depending on your finances.</p>