<p>SC Honors College was my D’s public safety college option and offered one of the top merit aid packages she received. It was less than our flagship in-state university (she wanted to go to a college outside the NE.). She chose to go elsewhere, but it was a great option. I knew a pair of twins both majoring in music who went there; the campus is lovely and the honors dorm is well placed.</p>
<p>Previous post:
<a href=“After the Dust Settled: Results for high-stats, merit-seeking kid - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1647834-after-the-dust-settled-results-for-high-stats-merit-seeking-kid-p1.html</a></p>
<p>She describes her search and her final acceptances and merit offers.</p>
<p>Start a spreadsheet listing schools mentioned here and in other threads. Go to each school FA page and read up on their scholarships. Check common data set for frequency of merit aid offered. Enter all the info gathered. We have a column for facts taken off the school’s website and a column for subjective info from posts here or our impressions if how competitive the scholarships appear.</p>
<p>I have seen lists of schools ranked by merit aid offered. Anyone have that kind of link handy?</p>
<p>Since you are from Maryland, you might wish to look at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, which is the public honors college for Maryland. The link to the financial aid part of their website is here: <a href=“Scholarships, Office of Financial Aid at St. Mary's College of Maryland”>http://www.smcm.edu/financialaid/schol-grants/index.html</a></p>
<p>The tuition/fees/costs/room&board for a Maryland resident is $25,750 (<a href=“http://www.smcm.edu/admissions/costs/tuitionfees.html”>Admission Agreements - Office of Admission); so if your parents can come up with $20,000 then you are looking at making up about a $6,000 difference via aid.</p>
<p>Insofar as your comment about giving you “tips on how to decipher these websites better,” the websites may be opaque for a reason (they give the colleges flexibility in their decisions to award money). You may simply have to pick up the telephone and call the financial aid offices of the schools you are interested in, and have a discussion with the counselors.</p>
<p>Lindenwood would be a safety and you would likely qualify for a full ride plus 2400 work study towards dorm - Brings the cost for the school into the 6 grand per year range.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lindenwood.edu/humanities/genderStudies/index.html”>http://www.lindenwood.edu/humanities/genderStudies/index.html</a></p>
<p>Look at Richmond, Sewanee, Rhodes and Centre. You may get one of their top scholarships. If not, you have a very good chance of getting enough merit to bring you within the 35k limit. St. Mary’s, mentioned above, would also be a great choice. Also check out College of Charleston Honors. </p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! We booked a visit to Rhodes in a few weeks and will check out the others. I really appreciate your ideas.</p>
<p>As a lurker with similar concerns, I want to thank everyone for the suggestions. Some good avenues to explore here for merit aid!</p>
<p>With your stats, you are in a great position! We have a spreadsheet of publics and privates. Some of them actually end up with a negative COA. Dig harder into the scholarship pages. Some schools are vague, but many are wonderfully clear, especially those that really want to attract high SAT kids.
The best deal I found was LSU. Full ride for 1440 SAT. Then Georgia, where one of our friends went, practically free, and she had amazing abroad experiences. Kansas St, Boise State, Clemson, Oklahoma, Kansas, Purdue, and Missouri all spell it out on their websites. Look at TCU, Denver and Tulane, as mentioned.
How about Vanderbilt? We keep getting brochures that claim to pay 100% of need without loans.</p>