OP, your situation is a bit like mine. My kid also has fairly high stats and intends to major in in studio art (with the possibility of adding a second major). We’ll also be reliant on financial aid packages and merit aid at several schools. Anyhow, here’s my thread, which may have a little overlap with yours: Studio/Visual Art at Elite LACs? Note that we’ve continued to reshape our approach based on various schools NPCs. (I’ve run so many NPCs.) Also, I’m new to the current and uneasy world of college admissions, so feel free to discount anything I write!
Animation is not a discipline that many LACs seem to cover in any depth, even the ones known for having strong art departments. If animation is important to your kid, you may have to look at larger universities and/or art schools.
In terms of additional schools to consider . . . I’d look at Kenyon, which reputedly has strong creative writing and studio art programs and offers merit aid.
Skidmore also seems to have a fairly robust studio art program and even offers a couple animation classes. Skidmore’s NPC for us is significantly better than many elite schools with much bigger endowments. But Skidmore also has a budding reputation for rejecting high-stats students who need financial aid in regular decision.
And Scripps has moved up our own list a bit. It’s got a reputedly strong studio art program, has access to the 5C consortium, and offers merit aid. Personally, I’d consider Claremont’s dry heat much more comfortable than the Midwest’s quasi-humid warmth. But I’m from California, so 80 degrees with any humidity feels much hotter to me than 100 degrees of dry heat. YMMV.