<p>Perhaps the schools you applied to don’t give merit aid. It seems that private schools are more known for merit aid. My NJ son got an offer 0f 17K from Case-Western, as they were looking for students from under represented states. Only 17 students were in the class from NJ. They upped his aid to 22.5 his Junior year. He is currently at OSU in a PhD program, getting 50K a year from the DOE. Ohio has proved to be the right choice for him! BYW, the only stupid question is the one that isn’t asked! Good luck!</p>