McDaniel (in Maryland) is a private school but gives good merit for good grades

Temple U also gives good merit. Was really impressed by this school!

Pitt also gives good merit - brings the cost down tremendously

As far as personalities...

Towson is a lot like GMU in VA: a pleasant campus in suburbia. Nothing like UMd or Florida State or even UCF.

Frostburg is a coherent campus but it's wayyyyy out in western MD and the academics aren't as strong.

St. Mary's is a liberal arts college way down by the water. It's gorgeous and a good deal if your child wants a slac, not a big uni.

UMBC is particuarly well known for sciences and hosts the prestigious Meyerhoff Scholars program. It is where the health sciences majors are.

Lots of crime in Towson these days. No thanks.

Anonymous wrote:Towson is everyone's backup school.

Why are you so nasty. No it isn’t.

Towson is everyone's backup school.

Anonymous wrote:I love hiring Towson grads. They are generally down-to-earth and will out-work their supposedly smarter peers and get ahead faster.

Towson's definitely underrated. It's nice that's it not located out in the boonies too.

You might also check out Stevenson University in Owings Mills. My nephew was very happy there.

https://www.stevenson.edu/

Your kid could do a semester or two at community college and transfer into UMD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people don't understand that you can get really good merit out of state, making it not much more than in state. I didn't know that myself. Try Miami of Ohio, they gave my kid good merit, and post on their website tiers of merit according to GPA.

Good merit OOS and much nicer towns than College Park.

Can you get "enough" merit though?

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people don't understand that you can get really good merit out of state, making it not much more than in state. I didn't know that myself. Try Miami of Ohio, they gave my kid good merit, and post on their website tiers of merit according to GPA.

Good merit OOS and much nicer towns than College Park.

I love hiring Towson grads. They are generally down-to-earth and will out-work their supposedly smarter peers and get ahead faster.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- to clarify, I was asking about in-state public schools. However, I am appreciative of some of the comments about our of state schools that might be brought down to similar costs due to aid. Thank you all!

Move to VA you will have more choice.

Anonymous wrote:Schools like West Virginia, South Carolina, and Alabama give substantial merit aid. My good, but not tippy top DC got enough aid at each one to bring it below UMD cost

+100 and for SEC schools if she likes the south, or Delaware, West Virginia, or Tennessee. Great schools, awesome school spirit, and can probably get some merit aid. For many of these, they show their merit aid based on GPA on their website, so it’s worth looking now just to get a sense.