There is a lot of discussion here on CC about liberal arts colleges that provide merit aid. But for many middle-income families who receive a merit aid award, liberal arts colleges are still vetoed due to the high cost of attendance(mid-sixties and above). A list of liberal arts schools that provide good merit aid and a lower cost of attendance might be useful.
Saint Olaf College with a total cost of 54k where 54% of students receive some merit fits this description.
My daughter got good merit aid from Tiffin University
Luther College in Iowa- 83% received merit money. Cost of attendance this year is $50,000 before awards. https://www.luther.edu/admissions/financial-aid/tuition/
We did this search a year ago with D, who wanted a LAC. We had an unaffordable EFC and looked hard for merit at LACs. Our goal was to find schools that at least offered a full tuition or larger scholarship for which D may qualify. She was also looking for great study abroad opportunities.
Her list drew heavily from the Colleges That Change Lives and included:
ClarkU (MA)
Centre (KY)
Knox (IL)
Lewis and Clark (OR)
University of Puget Sound (WA)
Trinity U (TX)
Southwestern U (TX)
At all of them she was admitted and recieved a merit scholarship on the high end of what is offered at admission by each school (based on what the school says about merit scholarships as well as what is reported here on CC). The initial offers ranged from $19k-25k. COA minus the initial merit offer brought our cost to around $25k at Knox, Southwestern, and Centre, and 30k at Trinity and Clark. L&C, and Puget Sound have higher cost of attendance than the others. With initial merit offers they came in at 35-40k cost to us.
D eventually interviewed for the top scholarship at three of the above schools, and was awarded the largest merit scholarship at one of the colleges. At Centre we were told that there were 500 applicants for one of the full ride scholarships and 10 were awarded–very very competitive. I suspect the odds are similar at the other schools as well for the full tuition or better awards. Generally the LACs give out 5 or fewer of the top award each year, and some only one or two.
We also had D apply to our state universities as safeties, since we knew that all of these schools could still end up out of reach for us. Getting one offer we could say yes to was considered a big success. I’ll also comment that applying for competitive scholarships at each school meant a lot of essays.
We visited all but one of the above colleges and came away confident our D could get a great education and have great opportunities at any of them.
Saint Michaels College in Vermont
@Hellofagal . I see that St. Olaf’s cost of attendance is about $10,000 less than Macalaster and Carleton’s COA, two similar close-by LAC’s that offer merit aid.
@Marigrow: They’re competing for a different caliber of student. That is to say, at almost every caliber, St. Olaf’s is likely to be considerably cheaper than Carleton (and probably Macalester).
The folks getting large merit awards at Carleton are the ones getting Ivy/equivalent acceptances.
Siena College, Marist College
Big question- is the private college going to offer at least as good an education as cheaper public options? Being the merit money recipient means being one of the top students. How often would the costs be less and the peer group (sometimes by the numbers not the percentages matters) at or better academically than the student? A lot depends on your local state offerings.
I agree with wis75… most LACs aren’t inherently better than many publics, especially publics which are committed to student success. And yes, they exist.
I think it really depends on the student.
I can see where a kid may have a choice between a giant flagship public where the student body quality (by test scores) is pretty good but where many of the lower level classes are big lectures and a LAC (where they got a big merit award) where the student body has lower test scores on average but classes are small and faculty are readily accessible.
In which environment someone thrives in better really depends on the individual.
@PurpleTitan - Carleton doesn’t offer merit aid beyond $2K for NMF, Natl. Hispanic, and Natl.:
The Admissions Office says:sions)
Most Carleton financial aid is in the form of need-based aid. However, Carleton participates in three merit scholarship programs: the National Merit Scholarship Program, the National Achievement Scholarship Program, and the National Hispanic Recognition Program. Students who are finalists in these programs are eligible for Carleton scholarships of $2,000 per year.
Is there any financial assistance for students who meet the minimum of preferred test scores at Carleton?
The Admissions Office says:
Carleton operates a need-based financial aid system, not a merit-based system. This means that we work to meet 100% of every student’s demonstrated financial need, rather than distributing scholarships or grants based on any past achievements.
Wheaton College in Norton, MA offers both generous merit and FA.
Franklin & Marshall has a policy akin to Carleton’s.
Lawrence.
Try some of these?
http://diycollegerankings.com/50-50-highlights-colleges-with-most-generous-financial-aid/5403/
Note that 50-50 means minimum 50% acceptance rate and minimum 50% graduation rate. So, no elite schools were considered
Juniata, Beloit
Centre and Transylvania in KY both are under $50k and both offer merit aid. Only a handful of full rides.
We told our daughter (both kids, actually) that the cost for the private option had to come out the same as what we would be paying (after scholarships were accounted for) at our in-state public options. That’s what we could afford. They managed to make this happen, and chose the private school/LAC over our in-state publics due to fit, not because the state schools were bad. We visited our in-state schools, and particularly with D2 (who ended up at an LAC) felt the state school had a ton to offer her and she would do well there. It was a great visit–the school was just too big, even with the honors college. 30k students vs. 2000. If the money had not worked out, she would have made that work, but as it was, she didn’t have to.
When we were looking for merit aid for '16 high school graduate, a number of midwest LACs had lower list price plus merit – Earlham, Knox, Kalamazoo, Beloit, Lawrence all had tuition and room and board between $5-10,000 less than schools like Oberlin, Kenyon, Grinnell, Dickinson, St Lawrence as well as the NESCACs. Many of them had tuition which was about $10k less a year, and room and board was a few thousand dollars cheaper also. Thrown in 1/2 tuition merit awards for our well-rounded by not exceptional student, and the cost of attendance was about $35,000 less than at those other LACs. For us, as a full pay family without full pay resources, those schools were wonderful.