<p>Well, I guess I’ll get to find out what I really think of this question. My son just called to tell me that he got an (unsolicited) offer of a substantial merit scholarship from the great state U to whose honors college he has been admitted. I didn’t know they gave merit scholarships to out-of-state kids; what I’ve read on CC led me to believe they didn’t.</p>
<p>I didn’t think that there would be a significant cost differential for us between this school and the (slightly) more prestigious private universities to which he (hypothetically, but not impossibly) might be admitted come April. My son is thrilled, of course. He is ready to sign up right now, just because no one not related to him has ever told him they loved him this much.</p>
<p>So now I get to mull this over, too. How significant is significant? What are the real differences? I’ll let you know where we come out . . . Maybe we’ll get lucky and all the relevant schools to which he has applied will reject him!</p>