Get her off the IU train. Ain’t happening. Sorry.
I wouldn’t suspect Miami is a go budget wise.
Again, might I ask the score - if she’s open geographically, they might get her money to make that big school affordable.
I don’t know you so you won’t be doxxed
But, for example, K U - which is Indiana in a different state (cool college town, etc.)- is about $45K full pay.
They don’t require the ACT and you’ll be well within budget after auto merit. I linked below.
But an Alabama or Mississippi State or others have SAT/ACT based - hence I’m asking.
So let’s re review your list:
Lose IU but add KU as a sub.
Lose Wisconsin. You can try UMN as a sub but with their new structure, not sure it gets you to $40K - but it might.
Lose Penn State - add Nebraska or WVU. Both will hit budget.
You can take a flyer on South Carolina. If you can go a bit over $40K, Arizona works.
There could be more - if I know the test score.
Your issue isn’t admittance. Your issue is you picked schools that have no way to get to the budget.
Better to kill IU now than have your daughter beg you later, you agree and over strain yourself financially.
If she likes Miami, then why not Central Michigan - just throwing that out too.
So - when one makes a budget, they should only pick schools that either will get to budget (these are most important) or can get to - but these are less important. You need a few will and then you can have can, knowing you’re not going if you don’t hit.
While I was full pay, I set a $50K budget. When we learned at the Georgetown tour that there was no merit aid, that night in the hotel, we took like 30 schools off my daughter’s initial list of 110.
She had built a list not compliant with a budget and that’s a no no.
For you, that’s IU (yes, some will say they have a full ride but yours isn’t getting it), Wisconsin, and Penn State.
So best to remove them now and replace them as I noted above.
The Miamis of the world and a Minnesota are…“maybe”. Iowa too - it’s $48K so not sure of the merit. They say $2-15K - so in that sense it’s a maybe.
But KU makes all your problems go away - it’s literally IU down to basketball is king, it’s a cool town, etc. and as an added bonus, it’s Honors College is highly reputed.
But right now, you have Michigan and Michigan State as assured with your list for cost - and nothing else.
Good luck.
Just to summarize - sorry - my list would be:
Michigan
Michigan State
Kansas
If you wanted more, I’d choose from these with CMU, WVU and UNL assured to meet your target.
CMU
Iowa
Miami
UMN
WVU
Nebraska
If you could go further, need the SAT
Thanks