If searching for merit, I would first research schools that are typically generous with it (there’s a list going somewhere on here). Many of those will be the larger public universities - quite a few in the South, but also some smaller privates. You’ll need to look at the acceptance stats of each school and determine which ones your child is at the top of (or above a certain threshold set by each school), and apply to those.
Some schools make it easy and tell you what the typical merit awards are for certain stat levels (UofSC, Alabama, Tennessee), others may not. Florida State awards in-state tuition to those with ACT scores above a certain level (32?)
I think it will be very difficult to get down to a max of $25k all in.