Did this student apply early to the nursing program? Other threads indicate your kid was looking into nursing.
What was the school that offered merit aid? Was that also for nursing?
Merit offers are very school dependent, and also the strength of the applicant pool is considered. At your ED school, it sounds like there was a strong ED applicant pool…maybe this was not the case at the school offering merit aid. OR maybe the school offering merit aid has a lower bar for offering merit aid.
Are you saying you accepted an ED offer of attendance without knowing your financial aid (merit or need based) status?
To others reading this thread…if your student is accepted ED, you need to wait for the financial aid details before making a decision about this acceptance. If it’s not affordable, it’s just not, and you can decline the offer. Don’t withdraw anything else until you know if the ED offer is an affordable one.