PS my beginning point is that every year there are families whose kids applied to selective LACs or top schools which do not offer merit aid…and where they make “enough” to be full pay – but not enough to pay without significant sacrifice…and then they regret encouraging their kids to fall in love with dream schools their families can’t afford.
If you are looking for colleges that offer lots of merit $$ you are going to have to cast a much wider net than just the NE.
here is a link to a list complied by CC parents of NMF full tuition and half tuition colleges
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
Lafayette has two levels of the Marquis Scholarship.
Marist College and Union College in NY.
Thanks everyone for the great info.
@momcinco , you hit the nail on the head. We started by looking for the best schools / best fits she could get into. Part of my logic was that the vast majority of private LACs and universities are priced very similarly. I also noticed that sometimes the highest ranking schools actually have lower tuitions and more generous financial aid.
But I didn’t realize that some good schools offered substantial merit aid. And further, we just received her PSAT scores a short time ago and her 2400 SAT score a couple weeks ago. It was only those scores that got me thinking that merit aid might be a real possibility.
I now planted the seed with her that we’ll need to look at the entire financial package when making a decision. I also let her know we’d be meeting with a financial planner who is expert on financial aid to better understand what we’ll be expected to pay. Yes, we “can” pay full if we need to, but it would mean deferring badly needed home improvements, skipping family vacations, and raiding our 401(k) retirement plans. Yes, our family values education and yes, we have always put our kids first, but I’m not sure we should. There’s a LOT to be said for our kids learning how to make the best from less-than-best resources, and a lot to be said for the pride in knowing that their high school success paid for much of their college. At the end of the day it will be a “balancing.” We’ll see where she gets in, we’ll see how much merit and financial aid she gets, and go from there. We’ll try to keep her somewhat in the loop so there are no huge surprises, but I’m not expecting it to be easy!
Please please do NOT raid your 401K! Your D has terrific test scores and I’m thinking if she has equally great GPA and activities she can surely find a great place for affordable! You are smart to do the research now.
I think your D is probably better than this school 
but take a look at Rowan in Southern NJ - they give great merit aid and are public school with up and coming vibe, small class sizes and (I can vouch) excellent student/professor interactions.
Best to you - great to see you starting early, and be sure to bring in your girl to this searching adventure too so she’ll see the money as a goal to get to rather than a hindrance, if that makes sense. We did this with my D and she is thrilled at how little we have to pay based on her hard work 
Like I said…I’m guessing that your instate flagship will welcome this student…and likely with scholarship money.
Your daughter has a lot of requirements or reasons to reject colleges by category (catholic, women’s colleges, anything not in the north east). You have money factors to consider. Sometimes something has to give. Catholic schools give a lot of financial aid and when she rejects all catholic schools, that’s excluding a lot of merit money. Smith and MHC give a lot of aid, and when she rejects women’s colleges, she’s leaving money on the table. Alabama, Arizona, Oklahoma give full rides to high stat kids and when she rejects schools out of New England, well…
Something may have to give. My daughter never considered an all women’s college, but after visiting Smith would have been okay with one - she just didn’t like Smith. At least I knew she was reject Smith based on Smith, not based on her idea of what a woman’s college really is. I’m not suggested she pick a catholic school if she really doesn’t feel comfortable, but she may have to trim her list of absolute deal breakers. Look around. Try out a few different types of schools.
I have two daughters who got huge merit scholarships from the University of Richmond in VA, one got a full ride(2300SAT, 1600 CR+Math) and one got full tuition(2230SAT, 35 ACT). UR has approx. 3K undergrads and gives out 45ish full tuition/full ride scholarships each year(they have a very large endowment and are financially healthy). Your daughter’s stats would make her competitive for a scholarship, assuming the rest of her application is strong, and she would be challenged academically, the 75%ile freshman SAT scores last year at UR were 730CR, 750Math, 740 Writing
It has a beautiful suburban campus about 10 minutes from downtown Richmond. There is lots to do, good internship opportunities, excellent advising and career services. Both girls are doing research with a professor(started freshman year) and have had paid summer internships. The senior spent a semester last year in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews, all paid for with her scholarship.
UR has a lot of students attending from New England. We live in the Mid Atlantic, but my husband and I are from Massachusetts. We have all fallen in love with the Richmond area. It also has an Amtrak stop, and that has made getting them home for visits very easy.
Washington and Lee, also in VA, offers a significant number of big merit scholarships. A friend’s daughter attends there and really likes it.
Fair point, @twoinanddone. To be fair to my D as well, I want to clarify that I’m the one putting the restriction on location, not her. She’d be happy to fly off across the country if I let her … I’m just not willing to let her. And yes, I have good reasons that are personal.
She hasn’t nixed the idea of a Catholic school, she’s just cautious. Although she’s straight, she’s very active in her school’s gay-straight alliance; the Catholic schools now generally support LGBT students, but it was a hard-fought battle to get there and only happened at Georgetown after losing a Supreme Court battle and experiencing numerous hate crimes on campus. I am personally disgusted by the “hookup” culture that exists at most campuses these days, but it’s foolish to ignore that it exists. Catholic schools will not permit or recognize “Pro-choice” student organizations; she wonders what other restrictions they impose on free speech. And btw, I spent 17 years attending Catholic schools; I am both aware of their weaknesses and respectful and appreciative of their strengths. She’ll consider them … with some caution.
As to the all women’s college, I have heard this advice from many. I’ll find a way to twist her arm to at least get her to visit one and give it fair consideration.
She’s actually a very good kid and she makes me tremendously proud for many reasons beyond just her academic achievements. She’s quite reasonable and open-minded (on most days!!) so I’ll have to trust that we’ll get to a workable solution.
University of Maine (not a small LAC) has a full tuition scholarship now for NMSF. A medium sized flagship in New England (though pretty far up in Maine).
You should ask her to at least visit Mt Holyoke. Neither of my D’s were sure about a women’s college, but both loved MHC after visiting. Both were accepted, D2 with $25K merit aid per year. For various reason both ended up at other schools, but it was a serious contender for both. The campus is lovely, academics are solid, and the 5 college consortium gives them some extra social opportunities and the opportunity to take a class or two at the other colleges as well.
We regularly have students (and parents) out here who were reluctant about women’s colleges until they visited MHC, and they come away excited to apply.
" She’d be happy to fly off across the country if I let her … I’m just not willing to let her. "
well, you may be cutting off your nose to spite your face when it comes to merit $$.
DS [ SAT’s 2350] was also primarily interested in smaller LAC’s and U’s, but we both decided that he would get what he was looking for at USC, [which was certainly not his first choice] after being awarded a full tuition scholarship there. The $ saved ended up being a blessing to all of us, since Grad school was always in the plan for the future.
the world did not end for him or us when he was just a plane ride away from home.
ymmv.
Have to agree… my kids have both gone far away. It has been okay for all of us. Money is harder to come by in the Northeast.
I personally received full-tuition scholarships to both NE and BC, as well as 20,000 from BU.
I’d be interested in hearing what full tuition scholarship you got at BC @MeritChaser13.
Yes…northeastern offers a great full tuition award to the top applicants each year. It’s a compotive award, but this student is certainly in the ballpark to be considered.
$20,000 from BU still leaves another >$40,000 for the family to pay out of pocket.
Could the OP clarify what is meant by the “NE”? I don’t think any of these schools are in the northeast!
What is the home state? If it’s New York, then the student and mom may consider Pennsylvania and Delaware. Ohio may not be crazy far.
Do you live near a major airport? Would you allow your daughter consider schools in cities that are a two or three hour direct flight away? Easing the transportation mode can widen the possibilities.
(Grinnell is in Iowa, far from the NE)
“I’d be interested in hearing what full tuition scholarship you got at BC @MeritChaser13.”
@thumper1, it would have been the Presidential Scholarship. They offer about 15 each year.