<p>I agree that UNC is a great school and a wonderful bargain. Couple of points. My merit list wasn’t intended to be anything but a starting point of twenty schools where I was at least passingly familiar. That’s all. Secondly the thread is about need and merit aid, not COA. </p>
<p>$12,650 (30% of attending students) Case</p>
<p>$17,758 (13% " ") Vandy</p>
<p>$12,702 (19% " ") USC</p>
<p>$5,308 (15% " ") UNC</p>
<p>Entering freshmen numbers are sort of “similar” but not exact. (Actually kind of weird.)</p>
<p>The numbers are not there, by comparison , for the merit program. For the fortunate students who do get one of the awards you mention, that’s great. I’m all for applying. But of 16,000 kids how many are getting those “big ones”? </p>
<p>Now, if I was putting out a list of best bigdogkinghell scholarships, UNC would be there in spades. If I was putting out best OOS school if you qualify for no aid, I think y’all are numero uno (except for Plan II at UTexas, but U wide - it’s UNC hands-down for me.). Fair enough?</p>