<p>BTW, DobieMamma, I am sorry to hear of strife at a time you’d all rather be celebrating (and should rightfully be celebrating). It looks like your son has some awesome choices, and I hope he comes to see that. </p>
<p>If the “stingy” school happens to be my son’s alma mater (he graduates in a few weeks!) I do want to say that merit received or not received is not necessarily connected solely to the desirability of the candidate, just for the record. At that school, even merit is to some degree “need informed,” so outcomes can be really variable.</p>
<p>And regardless of what school you’re referring to, I will tell you that my son has had a few OOS friends have to leave his school because the financial burden grew to be too much for their families, and that’s a much tougher thing than to never have gone, IMHO.</p>