For merit aid, I would look at each college’s website to see if it has any kind of guidance about minimum requirements for merit aid. If it doesn’t (or even if it does), I would then go to the school’s Net Price Calculator (NPC). (You can do a web search using the college’s name and Net Price Calculator to help find it.) If the NPC asks for your GPA and standardized test scores, then it will probably include the minimum amount of merit aid you can expect. If the number comes out as $0, then I would follow the guidance you’ve received about submitted scores.
If there is no information about minimum stats and nothing listed in the NPC, then you can check out this site to see about what percentage of students receive merit aid. When I compare that percentage to an entering class, I usually think of it this way: If a school gives merit aid to 15% of students, then I tend to think that a student’s stats should be in the top 15-25% of the applicants. If a school gives merit to 95% of students, then I think that the top 95% of applicants are likely to receive merit aid.
So, if you look up the merit aid (and if it’s not listed on that site, you can do the calculations yourself from the college’s Common Data Set) and then see where you think your stats might fall (top 25%, middle 50%, bottom 25%). If your stats aren’t in the range that would likely receive merit, then you may want to give serious thought as to whether you want to submit your test scores and call an admissions officer at that university for their recommendation.
With respect to UC-Boulder, is your budget still $20,000/year? Because the cost of attendance (COA) at CU is about $56k. 42% of freshmen (63% of freshmen without financial need) received merit aid, and the average merit award was $8,842. Even if you receive merit aid, the average award would only bring your COA to about $48k, which is still more than double your budget.
If you need help finding schools that are within budget or that you stand a reasonable chance of being able to get within budget, let us know. If so, let us know what you’re looking for in a college such as size (large/medium/small…and what does that mean to you), location (which parts of the country), location type (urban/suburban/rural), what field(s) in the liberal arts you’re interested in, any dealbreakers, etc.
Also, I would strongly advise your family to run a Net Price Calculator to see whether schools will think they qualify for an financial aid, as that can make a difference as well.