<p>Great info, thanks!</p>
<p>Some of the large college selection books have tables showing which schools have the best merit aid. If I recall correctly, they list both percent of students receiving merit aid and average amount of award. It may have been the big U.S. News and World Report book. You can usually look these over at your public library and photocopy the relevant pages.</p>
<p>Another consideration, in case it hasn’t been mentioned, is geographical area. We were told by an experienced admissions officer (at a different school) that my son would get good merit aid at Case Western Reserve U. in Cleveland, because they are trying to attract more students from both the east and west coasts. He was correct! Of course, there are increased transportation costs to consider… The best part was that we were able to use this merit award to convince another school to increase their merit offer :-)</p>
<p>OP - NY has a variety of good SUNY choices. It’s good that you are looking at them too. </p>
<p>I liked SUNY Potsdam but ended up going to Clarkson for engineering in the same town. The small town and cold weather doesn’t suit everybody, but I loved it. SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of music had an excellent reputation.</p>