<p>“She included Goucher, Ursinus and Clark from Colleges That Change Lives, hoping that they would be safety schools for her, and because they offer merit aid.”</p>
<p>How much merit money is your family looking for? Can you readily pay the full Cost of Attendance at any of these institutions, or will it be tight? If you aren’t good for $55k+ each year, for four years, then your daughter needs to pin down one or two dead-on financial safeties that also are dead-on academically safe for her. To that end, I’d suggest that she spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum reading up on the various need-based and merit-based issues ([FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) is another good resource), and that she take a look at the various threads on guaranteed merit-based aid.</p>