You will find this thread, from a B student’s mom about his journey to find the right school, very interesting. S21--not an easy path, happy to get some input at this stage - #36 by Cheeringsection
This kid applied to private schools that accepted 70-85% of their applicants, and got some merit money, to boot. But if your son’s budget is 20K/yr, that would mean that he’d probably need to get all but 5K of his tuition covered as merit money. Plus, I’m not sure that these are the right schools for him, since I don’t think I’ve seen anything about what he is interested in studying. But certainly, a ton of schools were mentioned that B students can get into, and get merit from.
In CT, for private schools, he might want to consider U Hartford, U New Haven, possibly Quinnipiac. I think Loyola Md is definitely possible. Basically, I think he has a very reasonable shot at schools with a 70% acceptance rate or higher. But honestly, without major merit money, none of these places would be worth more to him than a SUNY or a CT state college. If a person is motivated, and reaches out to professors, they will get a good education wherever they go.