Thank you @txstella. You’ve provided some other places to research. It is eye opening to see that even with some college savings and scholarships, the COA for many is over our budget @MAB222, we heard that the cutoff for Texas is 191 this year, so she missed it by a couple of points. Would have been nice 
As stated, you have to have SAT or ACT numbers to know.
You don’t say where you are in TX. LSU is driving distance for East Texas. 33 ACT or 1440 SAT (CR/Math) and a 3.5 gets you $20,500 which leaves $6,300 in tuition plus Room and board which is roughly $12,500 for a price of $19,000 per year. A 30 or 1330 and 3.0 get’s you $15,000. These are both out of state scholarship numbers. The 33/3.5 also puts you in competition for a full ride but the $20,500 is automatic as long as you apply in time.
The number you need to hit though is 32 because that is threshold for LSU Honors. I do recommend LSU if you are in the Honors. It cuts down the size tremendously. I’ve visited twice with my D and we’ll visit again in the Fall before we make decisions.
As to Greek, I attended LSU 25 years ago and I think Greek was bigger then than now. I did not participate in the Greek system and had no issues. The thing about a school with 25,000 undergraduates is that even if 10,000 are Greek, 15,000 are not.
Last thing is if you score higher your senior year, LSU will bump up your scholly for the new score as long as funds are still available at the higher scholarship level.
http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/financialaid/entering-freshman-scholarships/
Loyola NO is my D’s top choice. I was going to suggest it. Depending on scores they’d likely give her $17-20K. Their COA is around $51K so a bit lower than many schools to start.
Have you looked into Saint Edwards University in Austin? She may get good merit there. The university is listed the top 20 in the West region.
New College of FL should certainly be on your list. They have an automatic scholarship for out-of-state students (or, they did) which brings the cost down below $30k per annum.
If you would like I can send you a file which has admitted student stats and the % of students awarded merit aid and how much for a long list of state flagships and private universities. Having taken 9 APs through junior year is highly unusual but a 3.6 is a bit low. If it were me, I’d focus on the merit money factor first then if possible consider location and greek life. Looking for a school with great merit aid given her probable stats, minimal greek life and metropolitan surroundings is really limiting her options
OP, my D had similar stats to yours and was looking for a similar warm weather college. Search for the “Southern LACs” thread on this website for the full monty. D is now at Rollins in FL and loves it.
Check out CTLC.org.
Colleges I would suggest are some mentioned here already and others: Southwestern, Trinity, Hendrix, Rhodes, Centre, Sewanee, Agnes Scott, Stetson, UTampa (for business), New College of FL, and Eckerd.
My D didn’t like the idea of greek life when applying to colleges, but she’s now a sorority member. Go figure.
For an idea of merit aid to expect, here’s one example: http://www.rollins.edu/financial-aid/as-cps-financial-aid/scholarships/.
Good luck!
The Greek life thing is going to be a problem when it comes to a lot of Southern schools. Are you willing to consider more Northern and Western schools? Greek life is usually much less prominent there.
Consider Earlham if it isn’t too far north
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I wasn’t sure if the PSAT score could be used to begin our college search
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Normally it would, but isn’t this the new PSAT with different scoring? Not sure.
Here is a thread to might provide some insight into the seeking merit aid process.
Austin College, in Sherman, TX. Here is its information on merit scholarships: http://www.austincollege.edu/admission/financial-aid/scholarships/
Try using the Supermatch tool http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/
and under scores check “I’m interested in schools where I would be well above average, to increase my financial aid opportunities”
Also since your daughter is hispanic apply for National Hispanic Recognition Program
and also look at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/735291-colleges-offering-scholarships-to-national-hispanic-scholars.html#latest
University of Houston Tier One Scholarship
This preliminary concordance can help give you an idea of what SAT to expect, it will be revised in May, but its all we have for now.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/psat-nmsqt-preliminary-concordance-tables-2015.pdf
I have daughters attending Earlham (liberal arts, private). Some things to think about: Some schools use only FAFSA, which looks at savings and income and does not look at home value or retirement. Public schools tend to have lower tuition but kill you on fees, while private schools tend to be inclusive. Many private liberal arts schools that are not “big name” schools provide an excellent education, but are willing to discount the tuition (merit aid) considerably for students that they want. Schools value diversity, so a Hispanic student from the south will be more valued in a northern midwest school than in a southern school. Also consider if spending four years in a different part of the country will be a good experience. We live in a well to do north eastern town. I am glad my children are going to school with students who come from different backgrounds and living in an area very different from the one they grew up in. I think they will be more able to adapt when they are on their own. In addition, my children would have never received the amount of merit aid that they have if they had looked only at the north east schools where they would not have stood out. Good luck with the search. Apply to more than one school, and don’t base your search on list price, especially if you are willing to go outside of your home turf, as she can likely get significant merit help.
Eckerd has no Greek life and based upon her PSAT and GPA, (they will recalculate), she could be awarded up to $21,000 per year. Would know more after the SAT scores are in.