<p>@sunsetweekend - I realize this is your list and you can give it any criteria you wish, but I think it’s unfortunate you left off schools that do not cover out-of-state tuition. You are correct that for some, like IU, the OOS differential is horrendous, but for others the OOS difference is manageable (Wright State differential is approx $8000). Some schools (Eastern Mich? Others?) give IS tuition to students from a varying contingency of other states. And for some students, achieving National Merit is “easier” than meeting other merit based rubrics, or competing in competive scholarship - especially when our “Arts” kids are competing with those " Math/Science" kids who often have higher class standings due to weighted nature of AP classes they tend to take (more so than some kids in PerfArts, where “honors” vocal ensemble may not get weighted grade). For schools like WSU that are trying to recruit a “higher” calibre of student, the full scholarship opportunities for being a “mere” Commended National Merit or an “underrepresented” student with high achievement - as well as those “regular” high achievers - are terrific.</p>