<p>I believe Assumption College in Worcester, MA is a sleeper. Good liberal arts college and part of consortium with Holy Cross, Anna Maria, Worcester State, Clark University. D was offered a huge merit scholarship there. Presidential Scholar goes to top (I believe) 20 applicants. She did not take it as had her heart set on playing varsity sport at Holy Cross, but I was very impressed with there offerings. Offered Honors Program, with 4 year renewable scholarship.</p>
<p>Also in the midwest, great schools with some merit: Kalamazoo College in Michigan and College of Wooster in Ohio. Excellent, excellent LACs.</p>
<p>LakeWashington- I guess I do not consider Oswego a sleeper as I graduated from Oswego many years ago- As a NY mom-- I think most of our campuses are sleepers to non-NYr's as most SUNY campuses get less than 5% OOS students!!</p>
<p>Holy Cross is known for not ponying-up the merit aid unless you've got over 1400 math/verbal. Obviously a great school, but again, 40k plus per year. Who can afford that? Great suggestions mol10e. Marist, Niagara, and Seton Hall, all decent schools with merit incentive.. but, are you any better off paying more in privates of this variety versus paying less at say SUNY or UConn. I'm asking....
There is a rationale out there that basically says, "Hey if you can't get into a top 20 or 30 LAC save the money for grad school and go public. What do you folks think?</p>
<p>The SUNY system is, I would say a sleeper, and a "Best Buy" in many publications. Here's the problem though. I'm hearing more and more that graduating in four years is difficult at meny publics because of the difficulty in obtaining all your needed classes in the four year time frame. Often not the case at the less crowded privates. So the "Catch 22" is yes, you may save going public, but that savings may be eroded if it takes 5 years vs. 4 years to graduate.</p>
<p>Love UVM but it is priced more like a private than a public for a non-resident. Why so expensive?</p>
<p>This is why my S never looked at UVM. I felt that it was priced somewhere between a private and public. My son was accepted at Marist. His aid package was very good. They are somewhat less expensive in sticker price for a private, they offered merit aid, and they even threw in another 1,000 in grant money (financial aid). They were nearly equal in my out of pocket to the oos public that my son will attend (James Madison). There are a couple of things that I did not like at Marist-only one cafeteria to use using meal plan, and one small cafeteria/store (not included on meal plan). I can see how we would be spending money for restaurants. Actually, that was really the only thing that I did not care for about Marist. They offer inexpensive day trips to NYC, very inexpensive cab fares to get places locally, incredible views and gorgeous campus, and most improtantly small class sizes.</p>
<p>Re: the SUNY system, you might want to take a look at this thread:</p>
<p>Nightingale, Just wanted to add that I know a student who applied to Marist 2 years ago, had a higher gpa than my son, and did not get any merit aid. I believe that his sat scores were lower than my son's scores. They both had very good ecs.</p>
<p>If you are looking for sleepers, you might want to check out the Colleges of Distinction website. A very nice array of lesser known colleges. It can link you up to schools in NE region. Included for NY were SUNY Oswego, Cortland, and also Siena College and a whole host of other schools. This website is definitely worth a look.</p>
<p>Hartwick College in Oneonta New York is also under the radar for many and worth a look (small LAC)</p>
<p>Nightingale, even with over 1400 will not guarantee merit aid at Holy Cross. My son was top 2% of his class, over 1400, great ECs and our "aid" was a $2,000 loan (we did not qualify for need-based aid so we were hoping for merit). Needless to say, he declined.</p>
<p>Wow! Sorry to hear that Palermo. I guess the 41% jump in applications has gone to thier heads. What were some of your son's other choices? Great scores... by the way.</p>
<p>Yes! Good call on Hartwick.</p>
<p>Nightingale, thanks. He was also accepted to Franklin Pierce with a very generous scholarship. He decided on RPI. Hartwick keeps getting mentioned. What is special about the school - strengths, weaknesses. Thanks</p>
<p>Many of the colleges that are now being listed are included in collegesofdistiction.com This includes Hartwick, Assumption, Salve Regina, Marist and Franklin Pierce. I counted about 40 schools listed in the NY and N England region. So if you are looking for "sleepers" and haven't checked the website out yet, I suggest you give it a look. There is also a lot of other good info on the site.</p>
<p>St. Michael's College in Cochester, Vermont - just outside Burlington is worth a look. Beautiful campus with excellent academics and great merit aid. Check out their Website.</p>
<p>St. Louis University is frequently overshadowed by Wash U. Good merit aid and a good size.</p>
<p>St. Michael's is on the radar. But would you prefer St. Mikes over say Providence College or Fairfield. What's your 1, 2, and 3 out of these????????????????????</p>
<p>Are they generous with thier merit aid?</p>