Yes, this is a concern at a number of schools, even if the off-campus housing is affordable. For example, Boise State is a yellow ribbon school and could be a good fit academically. (I even know a student who majored in forensic science there and has a great career in the field, that she is loving.) And the automatic merit would cancel out the cost of on-campus housing. But on-campus housing isn’t guaranteed, and I don’t know if there’s any way to “redeem” that merit money and apply it to off-campus expenses. This could even be a concern at Utah State, although they seem to have a lot more housing available than Boise State has. I’m wondering, in general, if you get merit in addition to the yellow ribbon funding, and have to move off campus, will schools hand over that money to pay your expenses? I think sometimes they do, but I’m not sure it’s guaranteed so I would definitely ask.
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