My friend is a Beloit graduate and raves about her experience. Sounds like an absolutely wonderful small yet life-broadening college.
I think it’s hard to call the schools that have competitive merit safeties. If you are geographically diverse, in our experience, that will help at the more selective schools for their merit (we saw kids with similar stats coming from common areas get nothing). But, for instance, Lafayette has Marquis fellows, which required attending a full day competition. A couple years ago, that was 40k; scholars only 24k, which won’t get you to 40k. At Richmond, there are 25 scholars (full ride) and 75 presidential, 1/3 tuition, which won’t get you to 40k.
We were looking for merit for S with same ACT and SAT, but lower UW GPA, but more distinct ECs (also top rigor). He got the lower scholarships at these two, though he did have a lower GPA (a B and a few B+ at the time of app). So, I think your S has a shot at the top scholarships, but for paying only 40k, I think the safeties need to be sure bets for the merit, or have a higher likelihood for the merit (ie, lower ranked schools where S is way above 75%).
Puget Sound has a couple full rides he might be competitive for. Trinity U would get you there. If he’s willing to go to a bigger school, Miami (lower cost to begin with) gave great merit aid which would get you there. Rhodes should get you there.
I went through the colleges that change lives book and looked at each website for specifics. I also matched S’s ECs to the schools (eg, 5 yrs mock trial/nationals, apply to schools that highlight their MT teams). That approach should help too.
My son had similar stats and a similar list; his safeties were Knox and Hendrix and St. Olaf (a somewhat less safe safety 
), and he was offered excellent merit at all three. He’s going to Macalester, but definitely could have been happy at any of those. All are in decent sized towns…Hendrix is definitely under 1500 students, though. Not sure about Knox; St. Olaf is about 3000, I believe.
@collegedad7 that is incorrect info. Just because one is in the top 15% of admits at “any leading LAC” does not mean the student will get merit. Most of the top 15 LACs don’t give merit.
Our S19 used Dickinson as a safety. We are in the Chicago area and did not visit But he met with the AO at our school twice and reallly liked everything the website had to say. He received $20k/year merit but Dickinson is expensive (even more than some more highly ranked LACs) and came in a little over $50k/year. S19 also applied to Grinnell and got $25K/year and that did bring the total closer to $40k per year. He was accepted to Kenyon with $20k/year as well but preferred Grinnell if he had to choose. Mac is a good option as others have stated. S19 didn’t want the urban location so much. Safety LACs are hard to nail down because the schools are small and one wants to make sure they “fit”. Grinnell is filled with high stat kids - more than any of the other safeties mentioned in this thread. The location is one of the only downsides but campus is really great and, since the endowment is so large, kids have all kinds of opportunities. One can always choose to study junior year abroad to get a break from Iowa.
Also, are you looking to spend $40k no matter where he goes? Or is that just the budget for a safety? Richmond is not a safety and getting merit there seems more competitive than at some of the other LACs.
If you’re looking for safer options and don’t mind spending more, I would look at William and Mary. Feels very much like a LAC and S19 loved it. Was offered Monroe Scholar that does not come with money but a ton of perks. It would have cost us something like $58k as a full pay OOS family which is still a decent sized difference if you add tuition up for four years versus a $72k/year college.
OP here. None of the Schools that I listed on my original post do I consider a safety except Ohio State. Sorry for the confusion. The addition of the merit need puts them all (Oberlin, Richmond, Mac, etc.) all in the reach category.
For the poster commenting about Beloit, I wish my DS would apply there. It would be a really good safety. I think I did it a disservice by just driving though the campus on Thanksgiving morning. Not the best way to showcase a college. For Richmod, I believe they converted some of the 1/3 tuition into half. Still a reach however.
@homerdog any school is competing with Ohio State that will likely have a net cost < 25K/year. I am willing to pay a premium for what may be a better fit, but 15k additional is about my max. We are trying to limit the list to schools that a least have some chance of getting in the price range. If there was something really compelling, I might be willing to listen, but that will be hard. If he wants to go higher, he has an additional 10k/year headroom but that will involve loans/work on his part.
My son got a full tuition scholarship from Marquette back on 2011. In part because he attended a Jesuit HS and received the Jesuit 1/2 tuition scholarship but also because he was awarded several other scholarships from there. Not a LAC, but a reasonable priced U with a lot of nice kids.
Oxy is another great school. But as you say, maybe not a safety.
Emmanual in Boston. Regis College in Weston MA, a small school with a great campus outside of Boston, used to be all female, now coed and giving great merit to young men. Neither of these schools may be a rigorous as you would like, but your S would be in top 25% and probably get great merit. Good luck.
Western New England in Springfield MA. I know nothing about it, except D got a lot mail from them They have a merit calc online.
With your child’s status, I would try for the Presidential Scholarship ($30,000 per year merit) from Loyola University in Maryland.
how about TCNJ. About 6500 students
Davidson College, near Charlotte NC.
U.S. News NLAC rankings:
10 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
6 (tie) in Best Undergraduate Teaching
8 in Best Value Schools
5 in Most Innovative Schools
@Defensor Davidson is indeed a great school but imo should not be considered a safety, especially for a kid seeking merit. The Belk scholarships are highly competitive. The student body size is also significantly smaller than what OP’s kid is looking for.
At Davidson, 104 of 275 the that had financial need got a non-need-based award. For the remaining 240 students only 14 got merit awards with an average of 19,973. Since we would be part of the 240 group, it doesn’t look too promising.
@Eeyore123 I just checked Richmond, and the 1/2 tuition is only for Oliver Hill scholars (African American it appears), if that’s helpful.
@yauponredux With a 1520 SAT, 34 ACT, 4.0 uw GPA, as well as several EC’s and awards - getting in Davidson wouldn’t be a problem.
The OP said his/her kid didn’t want a school < 1500 students. Davidson has 1800+. So it meets the kid’s size requirement.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the OP can afford it.
@havenoidea yes, that is helpful. The puts Richmond squarely in the category I don’t like. More than you want to pay, but not so much more that you can’t pay. That is how you get price creep. This is what makes merit hunting dangerous. You can have some offers that you really don’t want, but a tempting.
Our s19 got into Davidson. 1540 SAT. Perfect GPA with lots of rigor and all 5s on APs. Tons of ECs including three season athlete, scholastic art awards, state awards in creative writing, a lot of leadership in community service. No merit from Davidson. And I think those stats are wrong. Only a very small sliver of kids get merit there.
What about Elon. Similar in size to Richmond and he would likely get a lot of aid. Their starting tuition is much lower than most schools as well.
@Eeyore123 This is what happened to us! S is at Richmond, the most expensive of all his merit options. Though, he does love it (just needs to keep the merit!).