<p>Kalamazoo College?</p>
<p>I think it may be unrealistic to expect to get half the cost in merit aid. Fooling around with the DePauw calculator, for example, it looks like the largest award is $14,000. Definitely nice, but not half. And that's for 4.0/1600-ish stats. I think a decent rule of thumb is that if the school you're applying to is generous with merit aid - and you're in the top 25% of SAT scores, you should get merit aid. The closer you are to the top of the heap academically, the more merit money you'll get (obviously!). You may want to look at Wooster in Ohio. I think their top merit award is $14-$18,000 - which in our case brought the cost down very close to our state university.</p>
<p>Washington College, Chestertown, MD, in USNWR list of top 100 LACs (or was, haven't checked the latest list) gives $10,000 a year to any member of NHS and some more if also NMS. More than 50% of their students receive some sort of merit scholarship ranging from $5,000 to $17,500 a year.</p>
<p>In our experience, Davidson does not offer great merit aid. My daughter was ranked first in her class with a 1520 SAT and received full-tution merit aid at Chicago, Emory, Tulane, and several others. Davidson offered her less in merit aid than any other private school -- just $5,000 a year. Even NYU, which is notoriously stingy, offered more than Davidson.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about the merit scholarships but K'zoo is a wonderful LAC that was on my son's radar screen for quite a long time. Also mentioned was Allegheny were my son did get offered their $15k/year scholarship plus a $4k stipend for research expenses or travel abroad semester. Another nice thing is that, though he turned them down, Allegheny wrote to inform him that they would keep the merit scholarship offer open for a year should he decide to transfer.</p>
<p>Others to consider for merit scholarships are Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, and Roanoke. If you are Presbyterian Wooster has $14k/yr scholarships that require a letter from your pastor to be considered. He was hoping that he could have gotten that plus an academic scholarship. Alas, Wooster does not normally do that.</p>
<p>Davidson has some extraordinarily generous scholarships that are merit rather than need-based, but they go to extraordinarily strong students who fulfill a number of criteria, including but not necessarily limited to academic excellence (leadership, community service, and atheltics as part of a larger community come into play in some of them). In the North for some reason it is easy to overlook the fact that Davidson is not just another LAC: it is a solidly top ten LAC and has a very strong applicnt pool; people don't expect merit aid from Bowdoin or Pomona or Wellesley, and Davidson is right up there too. Those who do get any merit aid from Davidson are really to be congratulated, whether it is a full ride or not.</p>
<p>One more suggestion, since we have familiarity with southern LACs. Take a look at the University of Richmond. We are friendly with three doctors who got their start there and claim it made a huge difference to their preparation. Very handsome campus, small classrooms, high caliber students, many Middle Atlantic state kids as well as some Southerners, and a strong international student presence. UR is selective and your D is over their mean --but what makes UR different is they have a large endowment for a school of its size. They have announced that tuition is going up 25% because they have been subsidizing all students for years on their endowment. Now they are going to be more in line with the other LACs like them in costs. They give generous financial aide, bringing down costs for many families to state school levels if your income is moderate. There are examples posted on their website.
As a LAC graduate myself, there is an argument that smaller is beautiful during your most tender young adult years and it is also worth the financial strain to get the attention of full professors all the time while you are preparing for graduate schools. Not that a large school cannot also have its charms and greatness factors, but for some students, the LAC undergraduate years will pay off later when your student is mature, confident and able to assume some responsibility for graduate school costs.<br>
I guess my point is that you have a child with a "profile" that puts her in admission criteria for selective LACs. Her stats show that she is ready for challenging school work, but her stats also mean she is unlikely to win major levels of merit aide at highly selective LAC's unless she has some other rare contribution to add to the school in her presentation of self. My family is also looking wistfully at the strenuous (1500 plus super service-related or talent requirements common for any merit aide) requirements for merit aide at my son's top LAC list colleges. However, he has such a fine record, we feel he deserves to learn in a challenging peer group. He would receive plenty of incentive and merit money at schools that are less selective. It is a tough call, I know, but I recommend she apply to both highly selective and moderately selective schools...and wait to see what the schools offer. You have time to think about the costs vs. benefits over the winter and spring.
Best!</p>
<p>Also check out Grinnell in Iowa</p>
<p>Definitely investigate College of Wooster. Should be routable on a visit to Denison. Good merit aid and good academics across the board. One of the best capstone-project implementations in the country.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas. Anyone have first hand experience with Tulsa? Obviously, they want to attract National Merit kids- I wouldn't try to force the issue, but would like to get D interested enough to visit. Thanks again for all the help.</p>