I know your in-state COA baseline isn’t great, but it may still be worth looking at programs that qualify for NEBHE reciprocity, and see if there are desirable programs where you might also get some merit. https://www.nebhe.org/info/pdf/tuitionbreak/2021-22/BACHELOR’s_Programs-NH_Residents.pdf The Comparative Literature major at UMass Amherst is on this list, which sounds possibly promising in terms of what you’re looking for college-wise and program-wise, but I’m not familiar with whether there’s merit available for transfers.
In general, it’s much tougher to get merit as a transfer than as a first-year applicant. Your current under-20K out-of-pocket may be tough to match without dropping way down in competitiveness.
You could consider SIUC, which allows all students to pay in-state rates and has some merit $ for transfers as well. They have a strong English department with a creative writing MFA program. But even with the max merit and the in-state tuition, you’d be looking at around 27K/year out of pocket.