<p>I have heard mixed results with Denison, but my S1 was offered a full tuition ride, so for us it was a fantastic offer (about 13k for room and board per year!). He ended up getting into one of his reaches and chose to attend there instead (think husband may not quite be over it yet, lol).</p>
<p>I do want to add Ohio Wesleyan to this thread, because they “stacked” two awards for S. Schubert and Founders together made the total cost less than our instate flagship. About 21K per year!</p>
<p>jiwmom, congratulations to your son! </p>
<p>As far as Denison, I was talking about the FA portion for a student who might be a on the lower end of midrange for this school. Just want to make that clear to the OP and other CC lurkers and posters.</p>
<p>I was going to add Ohio Wesleyan but jkiwmom beat me too it! :)</p>
<p>I am from Ohio: College of Wooster, Hiram, Ohio Wesleyan, Denison (agree you have to have pretty stellar stats for this one), Wittenberg (give grants to higher income families and really good merit aid), Ohio University offers free tuition to 32 or greater act, Heidelberg is pretty good and has a lower starting price - those are the first ones that come to mind.</p>
<p>Antioch just reopened and the 25-35 enrolled students are attending all 4 years free!!</p>
<p>I second DePauw. Great LAC, very good aid, less than 3 hrs from Chicago. Valparaiso might be another good choice. Good programs and rep; less than an hr from Chicago.</p>
<p>^^ Unfortunately at this point Antioch is not accredited. That’s the tradeoff for the free ride.</p>
<p>Grinnell in Iowa? Excellent education, reputation, and even more excellent financial aid (thank you Mr. Buffet).</p>
<p>I will third the Bradley recommendation. It’s about 2.5 hours from Chicago. My S1 goes there and absolutely loves it and he is getting an incredible aid package. Based on the financial situation you described my guess is that they would give your friend a very good package as well. (Maybe even close to full tuition)</p>
<p>Regarding St. Olaf and Grinnell, I don’t know if her grades would be high enough. I know several people lately with much higher stats who were either flat out rejected by St. Olaf or waitlisted. I also agree that Luther College would be an excellent choice. It’s about 5 hours from Chicago.</p>
<p>Erins dad: I know and I would have a real hard time having my daughter go. But she wouldn’t anyway…she wants the social scene and lots of cute boys. Lol</p>
<p>Here’s a third vote for Knox. Grinnell has a reputation for generous financial aid, but that wasn’t true for us.</p>
<p>Beloit, Laurence, St Olaf, and Earlham all came through for us. Grinnell can give good aid, if competitive. Concordia in Moorhead, MN, Coe and Cornell in Iowa have historically given good FA.</p>
<p>Valparaiso University, imo, gives good aid, and it’s about an hour from Chicago.</p>
<p>Lawrence University (WI) covered 100% need when DS attended (listed at 96% here: [Colleges</a> that Meet the Financial Needs of Students | InsideCollege.com](<a href=“The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress”>The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress)).</p>
<p>But if IL offers state finaid, I agree that it would be a good idea to look at IL colleges (such as Knox) first.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses; much appreciated. I’ve forwarded info to her mom. Just to clarify, however, some of the schools named (Lawrence, Grinnell, St Olaf, Oberlin, Dennison) seem like BIG reach for a B/B+ student from a typical Chicago suburban HS w/little ECs. Is that true? I also suspect that she’s not going to ace the ACT - more like a “26” range?</p>
<p>She should have taken the ACT already as part of the Prairie State exam. How did she do?</p>
<p>higgins, you are correct–several of the schools named would be a reach for a B student. I think some of the other posters were listing schools with generous financial aid without regard to the student’s stats or distance requirements.</p>
<p>There are many others that were mentioned that would be glad to accept her and probably give her a good financial aid package as well.</p>
<p>I hope she and her mother are able to find a school that will be a good match. It sounds like they have already had to deal with a lot.</p>
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<p>I agree that Grinnell is loaded, but they aren’t the right fit for B/B+ students. It’s far more selective than that.</p>
<p>Grinnell and Oberlin, although they give good aid, would definitely be reaches for a B/B+ student. Knox, Lawrence, Beloit, Ripon and St. Olaf are likely more workable.</p>
<p>Here is a list of colleges that are reported to meet 100% of need: [Colleges</a> that Meet the Financial Needs of Students | InsideCollege.com](<a href=“The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress”>The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress)</p>
<p>If you Google “colleges that meet !00% of need” you can get other lists. </p>
<p>Schools have different understandings of what it means to meet 100% of need. Some of the more selective colleges meet the need entirely through need-based scholarships, excluding Federal or State grants and work-study assignments. Other colleges put together a package that combines a need-based scholarship, a Federal or state Grant (such as a Pell grant), and a work-study assignment of 10 hours a week or less at the college. The need is calculated using the FAFSA score so sometimes a family ends up paying money out of their own pocket if their income is determined not to be low enough. The more selective colleges have a cut-off of between $40,000-$60,000 parent income and one child as the criterion for a 100% need-based scholarship. If the family has more than one college-bound child, that also is calculated so that families making over $100,000 can still get offered full aid if they have enough kids going to college.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that even paying room and board and a portion of tuition at a LAC might be too pricey for this family. Do any of the community colleges in the OP’s area have articulation agreements with four-year colleges?</p>