Montana is a big state - you can be in another city and have it be almost like OOS. Clearly this will be your most likely bet - and they’ll take the two years of CS.
I think you should focus your efforts there given your budget.
The issue is - what if you don’t get one - there’s only 200.
The MUS Honor Scholarship (MUSHS) is a 4-year renewable scholarship, which waives the recipient’s tuition when used at an eligible campus. Its average value at a 4-year Montana campus is $5,000 a year or $20,000 for four years. The scholarship does not cover mandatory or class fees. Students should ask the college for a list of fees that are not covered by the scholarship. The Board of Regents intends to offer up to 200 scholarships (contingent upon continued funding of the program) annually. This scholarship will be awarded in accordance with the MUSHS Eligibility and Criteria Procedures.
Npw U Montana should be about $20K with $4K merit if you don’t get Honors (at least now) and I imagine other in state schools are the same.
Trying to go out of state or for a top school make non sense - especially when you acknowledge you didn’t chase rigor.
Nothing wrong with Montana schools.
Alternatively you can look at a school like Troy in Alabama where you might get a full ride - but then you’re not in a cool climate.
However, a semester of college foreign language is like a year (sometimes more) of high school foreign language. So taking the first and second semester of college foreign language could get you to the equivalent of high school second (or maybe third, depending on the college and high school) year.
The student can only take one semester, this Spring. But since one semester of college language is equivalent to 2 years of language in HS (or, as you say, even 3), it’d meet the baseline requirement at most universities while showing a modicum of intellectual curiosity. So it’d be a very efficient semester.
No college starts late enough for the OP to start the language in the fall?
First semester college may be equivalent to the first or first and second year of high school, depending on the college. In California, where the first semester college is equivalent to the first and second year of high school, the foreign language college courses are 5 credits rather than the more common 4 or 3 credits.
Either they go to a meets need school that will get to $15k - and OP hasn’t come back with an NPC figure or they go to an in state public to get close.
Being they lack overall rigor, a high end private, if it meets their need to $15k, is unlikely although being from Montana helps.
But OP needs to run an NPC to see if $15k is even possible. And if one gets to cost, the school should be considered highly unlikely admission wise.
If you haven’t done so already, check the link I provided earlier ro “25 Private Colleges with Generous Financial Aid”. There are some real bargains out there.
Did you complete the NPC at MIT? What did it say your net cost would be?
There’s really no point having people throw out potential targets without knowing what fits within your 15k budget. You know the details of this “fund” (and whether it’s in a retirement account) and the home value; we do not.
Princeton and MIT are on the very generous end of the spectrum for need-based aid. Perhaps run those and then a few schools that consider home equity (perhaps Columbia and Duke). That might help folks understand whether need-based aid is realistic at other schools. Or pick some other schools from the list @Bill_Marsh provided and see what those NPCs say.
I agree you should look at Lafayette College. They are trying to expand their geographic reach. Their common data set says 2 years FL recommended. They are not need blind but do meet need and also have those larger merit based awards