<p>Beloit College in Wisconsin: $40,248.</p>
<p>Kalamazoo College is about $40,400 per year</p>
<p>Lawrence University (Appleton, WI): $36420.</p>
<p>This is one of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (along with Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Colorado College, Macalester, Beloit and others). It’s a liberal arts college plus a music conservatory. 1,429 students.</p>
<p>The University of Minnesota Morris is public liberal arts college that has a lot going for it, and tuition plus room and board is about $17,000 whether you are in state or out of state. They would like more out of state students so they do not charge more for out of staters.</p>
<p>Thanks for all these ideas! I hope the growing list is of some use to others as well as to me. </p>
<p>Calmom, I appreciate your wisdom, which definitely reflect many of the discussions I’ve had with my D. She knows she has a finite amount of money to cover undergrad and grad school. This means we are theoretically able to pay for her dream school[s] for undergrad, but that leaves nothing for further studies. For this reason, she’s open to OOS publics that don’t have the pricetags of UMich or the UC’s. She’s also on the hunt for merit aid, and that’s not a completely lost cause. </p>
<p>Thing is, when I see the difference in cost between a place like Rice and U Chicago or Pomona, it makes me wonder if there are sleeper schools out there with similar great quality and lower price tags - even without merit aid. That’s why I solicited input on my list.</p>
<p>Marist College in New York</p>
<p>Tuition & Fees $ 26,605.00
Room & Board 11,225.00</p>
<p>Books & Supplies 1,350.00</p>
<hr>
<p>Total $ 39,180.00</p>
<p>Merit-Based Aid
Marist awards merit scholarships to its most academically competitive applicants ranging from $8,000 to $12,000 a year. When you apply for admission to Marist, you are automatically considered for merit scholarship; there is no additional application. Awards are renewable, provided the student maintains a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.850 during their four years of study.</p>
<p>I’m surprised no one has yet mentioned perhaps the best deal. The excellent College of William and Mary, OOS cost of attendance, about $21,000.</p>
<p>PackMom in post #7 gave a shout out to the excellent College of William and Mary.</p>
<p>Some of the figures being posted here are a bit misleading. The OP was asking about total COA, not just tuition and fees. </p>
<p>William and Mary says its COA for OOS students is $21,015 PER SEMESTER. That would be $42,030 per year—just a little below the $45,000 cutoff the OP asked about. That’s pretty much in line with other top publics. The University of Michigan says its total COA for OOS students is $46,999—slightly above the OP’s cutoff, but still cheaper than most top privates, and unlike most top privates Michigan does give merit aid. According to US News, 47% of OOS students at Michigan receive “non-need-based gift aid,” at an average award of $9,870. Seems to me that’s enough to pull the average net COA after merit aid down below the $45,000 cutoff. Of course you won’t know until you apply and get the offer.</p>
<p>And I’m afraid I cited an outdated figure for Lawrence (it did sound a little too good to be true). The 2009-2010 cost for tuition, room and board, plus fees is $41,649. Still under the OP’s line, though.
[Merit</a> Based Financial Aid - Lawrence University](<a href=“http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/afford/merit_based/]Merit”>http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/afford/merit_based/)</p>
<p>Willamette U. - $44,800.
Univ. of Redlands - $44,900.</p>
<p>Trinity U in SA, total COA for this year ~$40,460. Generous w/merit, too.</p>
<p>
W & M projects that OOS students will spend about $1200-1400/semester for travel, books, and incidentals. The bill from the bursar this past semester, for tuition, room, board, fees, and health insurance, was about $19,700. As at any school, there are ways to decrease the travel costs - and even the room and board, for upperclassmen who room in a triple or can manage on a less expensive meal plan. Barring certain majors, students can usually economize on books, too.</p>
<p>Also as at most colleges, W & M requires their students to have health insurance and will enroll and charge them for their own insurance program unless the student presents proof of insurance through his/her parent’s coverage. So families can save between $1000-$1500 annually (at most colleges) by waiving the college health insurance, if their parents’ plan continues to cover them. </p>
<p>W & M seems to me to meet all the OP’s criteria, since she began her list looking for selective, challenging schools with tuition/room/board/fees under $45K, excluding books and travel.</p>
<p>While they don’t have the same “name recognition” as some of the others posted . . . . my D is attending Illinois Wesleyan this year (freshman) and absolutely loves it – $41,788 all in – and she got a very generous merit scholarship. She also really liked University of Evansville when she visited there. They have a very strong travel abroad program if that is of interest, strong honors program, and a beautiful campus – $36,000. Both are small (under 2,500) undergraduates. University of Minnesota is a great deal if you are interested in a large university – less than $23,000 OOS, with most strong OOS students getting a merit to bring it down to in-state costs of $18,000.</p>
<p>Grinnell has very generous merit aid policies, which means the cost is well under the $45k p.a. sticker price (and we didn’t qualify for Financial Aid). If your daughter is a strong student, she can get a top notch LAC education at a great price.</p>
<p>I read a couple of years ago that Grinnell raised their price even though their endowment was doing so well that they didn’t need to. Part of raising their prestige.</p>
<p>^^ someone posted an article here recently explaining that many colleges have been able to boost their applicant pool (proxy for prestige, I guess) by raising fees. Sounds crazy but it works, apparently.</p>
<p>I’m the OP, and my list in the early posts did not include costs for travel and books - just mandatory fees and first year room/board. To me, that gives a better apples to apples comparison. But I’m happy to see posts about total COA too. The more info the better.</p>
<p>I’m intrigued by William and Mary. My D wants to keep shrinking her list, but I’ll have her look at that one. She considered Grinnell at one point, but she’s thinking a combo of small college and relative isolation might not be the best fit for her.</p>
<p>I have to say, I really misread their webpage at the C of W & M and entirely missed post seven. Must be getting a little foggy-headed in my dotage.</p>
<p>Lawrence University is in the middle of a small city albeit on a river. The airport down the road, 15 minute drive has links around the world. I remember when my son decided he wanted to go check the place out, it looked interesting to him, I had never heard of it, growing up in the Bay Area. The web site looked good though. What did I know of the Midwest! This is just a suggestion: don’t overlook it for colleges, don’t overlook those schools. Your costs are down and the education is the best.</p>
<p>Consolation, I think you are correct re Grinnell. They raised it to $45k-but most students do not pay full price due to financial and merit aid.</p>