Absolute agree @suzy100! Not ruling anything out…but maybe want to learn more about any merit programs. It’s also been good to find out which schools don’t give merit at all. Crossing them off a list feels good even this early. So many other awesome schools out there.
How about Case Western. It is not a LAC but does give a lot of merit and is next door to the Museum of Art. It seems to emphasize art and technology.
Small Catholic liberal arts schools sometimes are generous with merit scholarships. I live in MA and I know lots of people who get substantial merit aid from Providence College and Stonehill College.
Hm. Don’t know much about Case. I’ll check it out! Catholic colleges probably not the best match for us even though I’ve heard they do offer substantial merit.
Echoing the recommendation of Case for good merit aid. Also, try their NPC, which does ask for grades/scores. You may be pleasantly surprised. (We were!)
Anyone sending their son or daughter to Macalester? Just looking at their website. Wondering if it feels like Carleton since they are both in MN…
You might want to have him consider and visit one or more of the guaranteed merit schools, even if they don’t necessarily meet all of the current criteria. Some of them may surprise you and you’ll want to have a financial safety.
Congrats for getting an early start. Keep in mind the landscape is likely to change quite a bit in the next 3 years. I have a junior, and in the last 6 months I already see changes taking place at many schools mentioned in this thread. Definitely do whatever you can (while letting your kid be a kid) to get those scores and grades up, and get an idea of what your kid would like to study. But I would check back in a year or two to get individual school data as it relates to merit. Good luck!
Plus, by then college may be free 
I know it’s not in the part of the country you’re looking for, but University of San Diego (not UCSD) has you enter grades and test scores at the start of the NPC and will show how much merit you can get right off the top. That’s at least an example of one school that does what you were asking about.
Don’t worry @2muchquan . I’m doing some research but we don’t discuss with our son. Too early. For now, he’s in charge of working hard at school and having fun with his friends.
Thanks, @youcee . We have family in SoCal so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities…especially for our middle school daughter who has already told us she’s going to CA for college no matter what. Guess she doesn’t appreciate midwestern winters.
Just did this with D. There are many useful lists on CC. Using merit alone, my D got her cost into your range (lower actually) at Grinnell, Lawrence, Eckerd, Kansas, Truman State, West Virginia, Temple, Tulane, and University of Pittsburgh. Some of these were guaranteed, some competitive. 34 ACT, 4.0 UW. She was most interested in urban, Midwest or eastern schools. Apply early!
If you have the opportunity to visit Carleton and Mac I would recommend it. My DW took both Ds to visit. One liked Mac (she also liked Denison, hated Kenyon) while the other liked Carleton (liked Kenyon, not Denison). They all hit the Mall of America while they were in MN (expensive trip…).
Interesting. That’s a good idea to visit both at some point. I wonder if Carleton really is more like Kenyon and Mac more like Denison! I think I heard that Denison is pretty conservative and that prob isn’t best fit. Our son isn’t ultra-liberal but he’s had it with the ultra-conservative majority in our town. Probably not looking to go to school in that type of environment.
Wake is not easy to get merit from. I will send you a PM.
I know you say you have ruled out schools in the deep,south…but I would suggest Tulane.
A good start would be the Colleges That Change Lives schools. My daughter with excellent but not quite Ivy level stats and resume applied to several from this list and similar schools, and merit scholarships she received (which we were targeting with our list) were in the range of $19-27k. She was also a finalist for a few full-tuition to full ride scholarships at these schools which required separate applications. Up to half tuition merit scholarships are pretty common at the not tippy top LACs but the really big scholarships are hard to come by. We didn’t apply to super selective schools with either kid so far so I can’t comment on that.
I would also say that if you plan to target merit money, plan to spend fall of senior year on applications, and have testing done ahead of that. Also, interests and maturity change A LOT between freshman year and application time. Take the time to understand the application and financial aid process, cross off the meets-need-but-no-merit schools, and set your kid’s expectations regarding the college decision making process, but don’t worry about specific schools yet. The kid I was sure would go to art school (as a freshman she said she was going to be an artist and live in a treehouse) is doing fantastic in engineering at a tech school (big merit scholarship) and lots of art happens on the side.
Some of the very best merit opportunities can be found at schools in the southern half of the US. I am not sure of your definition of the “deep south” but I would have thought that would include Tennessee, yet you have asked about Vanderbilt. And Wake Forest and Davidson (and there is Duke) in NC - all in my definition of the South. What about Texas? Is that deep south?
Also, a lot may change about merit opportunities between now and your S’s application season. Last year Sewanee was listed among those that seemed to have pulled back the reigns on merit. This year - it appears Kenyon has made that list - based on some of the parent posters on CC. Would not be surprised if next year it is Grinnell.
Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. I just worry about schools that are too “southern” and formal where the girls were all debutantes and kids dress up for football games. Our son wouldn’t identify with kids like that. Also, again, I worry about a school that’s too conservative (especially in Texas). I get the impression that Wake and Vanderbilt may not be quite as “southern” feeling since they have kids from all over the country. Maybe I’m wrong!
I don’t think that you will find too many debutantes at Tulane. Check it out. Many students from the northeast attend there.