Here are some high value schools in New England:
UMass Amherst has a new honors college, is strong in the health sciences and gives some out-of-state merit. Bucking national trends, Massachusetts has been increasing funding in their state schools. (They were underfunded in the past due to the large number of private schools in the state). If you could figure out a way to gain state residency, then UMass Med school is top notch and very inexpensive.
Clark University in Worcester gives large merit (it may give full merit for some early decision applicants) and it is close to UMass Medical for research. It is kind of miss-classified (it is really more of a LAC) so it tends to suffer in the ranking systems. Its location in Worcester (which is improving) makes it less popular than you would expect for the level of academic quality.
Wheaton College in Norton Mass gives good merit and has an amazing record of producing prestigious scholarship winners. You can cross enroll at Brown. Strong in the sciences and I see a good number of students renting housing around Tufts to do summer research in the greater Cambridge area (huge biotech hub). This school is less popular than you would expect for its academic quality because it was really late in switching from an all women’s school to coed.
University of Vermont is a very old (Ivy League vintage), smaller state school that gives some out-of-state merit. This school is less popular than you would expect for its academic quality because Vermont is a very low population state and it has trouble getting enough in-state applicants.