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<p>It’s not. Not if by “top LACs” you mean the USNWR top 50 or so. Princeton Review rates SLC “85” for admission difficulty (close to Hampshire’s 86, less than Bennington’s 89 or Skidmore’s 93).</p>
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<p>Rutgers’ total COA is what, about $25K? COA at private LACs typically is $50K or more (with a few nice exceptions like Centre College at ~$43K). So, to get your LAC COA down to Rutgers territory, we could be talking about a merit award of more than $25K. The only LAC on the Kiplinger chart that awards average merit grants that large is W&L, if you take out schools that award merit only to very few students (3% or less). W&L awards merit to 15% of their students … but W&L is a high-ranking LAC with an 18% admit rate; the OP’s D may not be among the top 15% of admitted students.</p>
<p>At private LACs, merit aid probably should be thought of, in most cases, as a nice discount for full-pay students … not as a substitute for need-based aid. For it to fill the gap between EFC and what you can truly afford, or to bring the net COA down to public school range, you need to shop carefully for a school where your kid will be very competitive, or where the COA starts out relatively low, or some combination (like Centre College, maybe).</p>