Are you considering UMiami? It has a 32% acceptance rate, an urban setting, the just-over-10K size that you prefer, a whole school of communications, terrific music opportunities… and it takes Bright Futures scholarships as well as offering its own merit $. I know you’d rather go out of state but Miami seems to check every other box.
URichmond is another - still southern but much different from Florida… I think their biggest merit scholarships have an earlier deadline, though. But 30-ish% acceptance rate, “rhetoric & communication studies” major, great music, and Richmond is a nice student city.
UConn is decidedly not urban, fwiw.
If you’re sure about communications as a major, consider adding Emerson to your list of Boston schools, as this is what it’s most known for. It would give you the urban setting you want, and a top-notch communications program. Around 4K students, 36% acceptance rate. It’s also part of the ProArts consortium, which would allow you to cross-register at Berklee/Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory, among others. They also have a satellite campus in Los Angeles where you could spend a semester taking classes and doing an internship. And they do have merit scholarships.