One of my cousin’s children turned down some highly selective schools for her own state school that offered some very nice merit money, bringing the cost down to community college commuting levels. It freed up a lot of parental money for her to have a rich life style during college, able to partake in some great trips and projects and programs, as well as having s nice apartments. No skimping on expenses at all. The family would have really felt the $45-50k private schools with good financial aid would have cost. But had she gotten a substantial merit award, she definitely would have gone elsewhere. It was a long shot, and they all knew it. It was quite the surprise that State U was as generous as. they were…
So many of us place parameters on how much we’d pay for what. I’ve known families break to open the family piggy bank for HPY, et al. But Vandy , Wash U, Rice, needs to cough up some awards for the student to give up State U’s package.