Should I submit ACT 31?

My oldest kid was offered close to a full ride at two of those schools 6 years ago with a similar ACT. So yeah some of them do offer a lot of $.

My current son with much higher ACT scores than the first, has been receiving mailings left and right with the amounts of merit scholarships he would receive based on his scores but also any scores in general. This year many schools are ditching the scores and awarding the merit based on the GPA. Many schools will also offer in state tuition rates, which while not a full ride, that is a substantial discount and makes decent schools very affordable for those who might otherwise not be able to afford them. If people are willing to look at mid-level schools, there is a substantial amount of money out there for great students who are really trying to grab these kids this year.

An avg is just that. An avg. There’s always someone above and someone below. I’ve seen plenty of kids get a lot of money from UC-Boulder as well as IU. IU especially with 30 ACTs. And a lot of schools will negotiate. However, a lot won’t as well. My friend’s daughter was just offered 40k more than her son with same stats three years ago to go to U-Minnesota. Money is definitely there at many places, whereas others it is clearly not.

Ivy Leagues don’t give merit scholarships and they don’t all meet need and for the ones that do, often people fall into the trap that one year they may get great need but the next get hit with something considerably different, even if nothing changed on their end from a financial standpoint. I unfortunately have seen this happen first hand.