I second the suggestion of New College in Florida.
It is a perfect place for “quirky” intellectual students!
I also think Eckerd would be a good match. Strong professor/mentor program. Autumn term, assigned student mentors, collaborative learning, honors program, Phi Beta Kappa chapter, numerous NOAA Hollings, Ford, Goldwater and Fulbright Scholars. Live and let live culture. Strong emphasis on environment, social justice. Makers room, Peace Corps Prep program, freshman research grants, Writers in Paradise Workshop, award winning student newspaper, 4-1-4 calendar, largest number of study abroad programs and participants in Florida. Good merit and financial aid. We have 2 children who graduated and went on to professional schools- law and vet.
@roycroftmom yes, definitely a lot of the schools on his list are going to draw largely from a particular region…in his case, I think he feels better about a large percentage coming from the Mid Atlantic or New England or Midwest or Northwest as a region than he does about 89% coming from a single southern state. Certainly plenty of his friends feel the opposite! And it is one reason that finding a close-to-home school for his list is a challenge.
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St. Marys or Stevenson (for different reasons) - both in MD.
Rice is a reach for just about everyone, but it might check off his boxes (except for the hot weather in Houston and driving distance parts). However, it is a short flight from ATL on Southwest, and can be driven in a day. Rice does not have Greek life, leans liberal, and has lots of happy nerd type kids. Rice has a lot of STEM kids but also has good Social Sciences and Humanities. Rice combines the best of a liberal arts school with a research university. It gets high marks for happiest students and race/class interaction. There are 4000 undergrads so it is relatively small with small classes. It does not have a rah rah sports culture or a country club feel.
I assume Emory is too close to home for him. He might like Carleton, but it is a long way away in Minnesota
Not SE but …
University of Vermont
Eugene Lang college at The New School
Ithaca
University of San Francisco
Rice has an admission rate of 8.7 %. I don’t think I would add that to this list
Hmmmm…one of the reasons I’m putting some weight on the graduation rate is that I believe, in relation to my kid who struggles with significant ADHD and slow processing speed, that the graduation rate may also be a proxy (granted, clouded by things like selectivity and finances which also impact it) for the support a student receives to succeed…particularly a student with these learning challenges. I’m assuming some of the attrition affecting graduation rate can be due to kids like S21 who need a bit more in the way of mentoring and support, and, of course, I don’t want S21 to be a part of that kind of attrition. I know that standardized test scores are supposed to also be a proxy for a kid’s ability to make it at a particular college, but with this kid, I find that measure to be less reliable than it will be, for example, with D23 who, while still quirky, shy, and a bit socially awkward, is also neurotypical, self-directed, and organized…her test scores will likely be a decent proxy for an academic fit, and I feel confident about her graduation prospects in 4 years wherever she goes. Do you think I’m wrong to put some weight on graduation rate (and retention rate) for this reason? (Related to this, I do like the non 5-5 calendars for S21. So Eckerd will definitely get another look. It’s one of the things we like about Knox, Kzoo, and Bates…calendars which allow a bit more for focusing on fewer things at once for slightly shorter periods of time - my own undergrad experience was with a trimester calendar).
Centre is a really good, often overlooked option- and Delta has regular direct ATL-LEX flight 
What about Gettysburg?Juniata?
Are you imagining driving and collecting him for every school break?
If this is your first, I know it can be hard to imagine your kid getting themselves back and forth, but you will be amazed at how much he grows up in the first 6 weeks of college, never mind the first year.
@Houston1021 unfortunately I think these are too reachy (Rice, Emory, Carleton)
@collegemom3717 for the schools currently on his list, I’m definitely presuming flights. And flights home for breaks are fine. But I was just looking to add something closer to home in case, when the time comes to put down that deposit, he suddenly feels strongly (or family situation changes in some way that I wouldn’t predict now) to make it important that he be within reasonable driving distance. I’m not counting on that being the case but wanted to have an option that would allow for it. I’m going to take another look at Centre as it’s been suggested here a few times, and I recall seeing a lot to like about it when looking at it in the past…I can’t recall why it didn’t make the original list. The impression I have of Gettysburg is that it’s going to have a cohort that’s more sports focused and/or Greek life focused ? (I know a little bit about the schools in that area tangentially through family as my nephew just graduated from Lehigh as did my sister back in the 80s and my father before her, and I got the impression that F&M, Lafayette, and Gettysburg wouldn’t match S21 as well as Dickinson would)?
Allegheny College in PA and Goucher College and McDaniel College in MD all might be possibilities. They are outside of your geographical area but meet many of your other criteria. All offer good merit aid and have good support.
Roanoke College maybe. Merit possible. New College is very nice. Sarasota is a lovely location.
what about Flagler in St Augustine? Also Sewanee in Tn ? Or is that too religious?
BTW we are also in GA and one of mine is in DC, and the other is going to upstate NY to RIT. (the have a great support program )
No, I don’t think graduation rates have much to do at all with support services for learning disorders. That is a separate list of schools known for good disability offices.
Really liked Goucher when we looked. It was not the right school for that daughter, but maybe for my rising junior, who also has ADHD and slow processing/executive function. I liked that they described the students as quirky. Not a party school. They have a lot of structure in place to catch students who may normally fall through the cracks.
@roycroftmom - I’ve definitely been looking at those lists (good disability offices) as well…but I have also been looking for not just specific disability offices but also professors, class sizes, writing centers, etc. set up in such a way that it is harder for a student to fall through the cracks. That is, not specific to extended time on tests or other typical accommodations…but schools where the learning environment is really geared towards setting the students up for success in additional ways…in a way that’s maybe hard to put a finger on in terms of a specific quantifiable criteria.
Your reason for looking at attrition rates does raise questions. I would say that if you have concerns that your child would be on the wrong side of those retention numbers at Guilford because of the level of support he’d need, it’s hard for me to see how Bates is a good fit. I’m not saying you shouldn’t look at Bates (a school I love!) but I am having a hard time reconciling those 2 data points.
Allegheny has good learning support but it’s in Western PA, not the Southeast. Are you prioritizing schools with good learning support?
I agree that Eckerd sounds like a possible fit. As for other central Florida schools mentioned thus far, Rollins probably has too much of the “country club” atmosphere, and New College is aggressively liberal/free-form/unstructured in its environment (which might pose emotional and pedagogical challenges for OP’s son).
Centre College flies under the radar these days, but it sounds like a match school that deserves serious consideration.
Another vote for Goucher, who focus on student success and have solid support woven in to the curriculum.
While out of your geographic range, it is close to the airport in Baltimore.