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If your child does not get a merit scholarship, it does NOT mean he did try his best in high school. The most selective schools, including the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford, do not offer merit scholarships.

There are always National Merit Scholarships. I had one (I did very well on the verbal SAT and my father worked for a large corporation). I'm not sure how much easier or harder it is to get one these days. Mine covered about 1/4 of the cost of tuition, but of course, tuition was lower then.