List of SLACs with Generous Merit Aid

[Anonymous]

Davidson was "conservatish" in the 1980s but is now mostly liberal. Sewanee probably still "conservatish" but has a decent group of liberal Episcopalians. Other schools offering merit aid:

Centre (KY). moderate to conservatish
Guilford (NC). liberal
Eckerd (FL). liberal
Wofford (SC). conservatish

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adding in some missed ones:

Grinnell (IA)

Mount Holyoke (MA)

St. Mary’s College of Maryland (MD) "
Kalamazoo (MI)
St. Olaf (MN)
Davidson (NC)

Hobart (NY)
St. Lawrence (NY)
Union (NY)

Dennison (OH)
Kenyon (OH)
Oberlin (OH)
Wooster (OH)
Lewis & Clark (OR)

Allegheny (PA)
Bryn Mawr (PA)
Bucknell (PA)
Dickinson (PA)
Juniata (PA)
Lafayette (PA)
Muhlenberg (PA)
Swathmore (PA)
Ursinus (PA)

Rhodes (TN)
Sewanee (TN)

Beloit (WI)
Lawrence (WI)

Added Lafayette in PA

Categorizing them into "Liberalish" and "Conservativish"


LIBERALISH
Grinnell (IA)
Mount Holyoke (MA)
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (MD) "
Kalamazoo (MI)
St. Olaf (MN)
Beloit (WI)
Lawrence (WI)
St. Lawrence (NY)
Kenyon (OH)
Oberlin (OH)
Wooster (OH)
Lewis & Clark (OR)
Allegheny (PA)
Bryn Mawr (PA)
Juniata (PA)
Muhlenberg (PA)
Swathmore (PA)
Ursinus (PA)

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Dickinson (PA)
Denison (OH)

CONSERVATIVISH
Bucknell (PA)
Hobart (NY)
Davidson (NC)
Rhodes (TN)
Sewanee (TN)
Union (NY)

Curious what others think?

Davidson is belongs elsewhere. Probably middle of the road.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest that you delve into the scholarship amounts at these schools. A 20K award will not be enough to bring you to in state tuition. UMD is very reasonably priced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adding in some missed ones:

Grinnell (IA)

Mount Holyoke (MA)

St. Mary’s College of Maryland (MD) "
Kalamazoo (MI)
St. Olaf (MN)
Davidson (NC)

Hobart (NY)
St. Lawrence (NY)
Union (NY)

Dennison (OH)
Kenyon (OH)
Oberlin (OH)
Wooster (OH)
Lewis & Clark (OR)

Allegheny (PA)
Bryn Mawr (PA)
Bucknell (PA)
Dickinson (PA)
Juniata (PA)
Lafayette (PA)
Muhlenberg (PA)
Swathmore (PA)
Ursinus (PA)

Rhodes (TN)
Sewanee (TN)

Beloit (WI)
Lawrence (WI)

Added Lafayette in PA

Categorizing them into "Liberalish" and "Conservativish"


LIBERALISH
Grinnell (IA)
Mount Holyoke (MA)
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (MD) "
Kalamazoo (MI)
St. Olaf (MN)
Beloit (WI)
Lawrence (WI)
St. Lawrence (NY)
Kenyon (OH)
Oberlin (OH)
Wooster (OH)
Lewis & Clark (OR)
Allegheny (PA)
Bryn Mawr (PA)
Juniata (PA)
Muhlenberg (PA)
Swathmore (PA)
Ursinus (PA)

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Dickinson (PA)
Denison (OH)

CONSERVATIVISH
Bucknell (PA)
Hobart (NY)
Davidson (NC)
Rhodes (TN)
Sewanee (TN)
Union (NY)

Curious what others think?

Davidson is belongs elsewhere. Probably middle of the road.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

It would be easier to ask which SLAC do not offer merit aid. Essentially all of them ranked below #40 on USNWR have to offer merit aid or financial aid, to pretty much every accepted student.Because of this I'd take a look at Forbes financial ratings of colleges too before making a decision. You don't your kid to be at a struggling SLAC, some of them have much better financial positions then others.

Within in the top 40, it gets tougher. My kid with high stats, and a SAT over 1500, did not get merit aid at Bucknell, for instance.

It is going to be more difficult to get a merit aid award that would bring the cost in-line with UMCP in-state. Most awards are $25k or less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a good list of SLACs that are generous with merit aid?

DD is only a sophomore but we are starting to think about some visits, and as well, want to start the conversation around costs before she starts to get hopes up or heart set on a school with a price tag we're not willing to pay for. Although in theory we can afford $70K/year, we're not willing to pay this because (1) there are grandparents who will need financial supports in coming years, (2) we are not willing to go into debt ourselves, (3) we think a good (even excellent) undergrad education can be had for significantly less, and (4) we anticipate DD going to grad school and that will need to be paid for too.

Based on various threads out there, we've heard about the following SLACs providing significant merit aid (enough to bring the price tag closer to cost of attending UMD in-state):

Dickinson
Oberlin
Kenyon
Dennison
Juniata
Wooster
Union
St. Lawrence
Sewanee
Rhodes

Other schools that do seem to offer merit aid - but not clear how generous this is or how often it is granted:
Bucknell
Grinnell
Davidson
Mount Holyoke
Bryn Mawr

OK, DCUM, have at it! What are missing and what do we have wrong?

Denison is spelled with one n.

You are the OP of the other thread, and misspelled Denison in that thread too. Correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- Muhlenberg
- Beloit
- Allegheny
- St. Mary’s College of Maryland - (already in-state for OP but offers good merit aid for both in-state and OOS)

The list so far is a good one. I found that many of these schools give merit aid that brings the total cost of attendance down around $35K/year for good stats but won't be as low as UMD in-state. If your DC has really excellent stats, they might get more $.

My DC had the same experience, except that Juniata awarded so much money that the cost would have been thousands less than UMD in-state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the list of competitive/highly selective SLACs with Merit Aid?

Muhlenberg
Davidson
Beloit
Ursinus
Hobart
Allegheny
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Dickinson
Oberlin
Kenyon
Dennison
Juniata
Wooster
Union
St. Lawrence
Sewanee
Rhodes
Bucknell
Grinnell
Mount Holyoke
Bryn Mawr
Swathmore

What is the question here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please arrange list in most liberal to most conservative or vice versa.

OMG, OP - do your own work on this.

For heaven's sake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(4) we anticipate DD going to grad school and that will need to be paid for too.

Is she thinking of a Ph.D.? Because that should be covered by fellowships.

Right. Also, OP, why are you anticipating paying for grad school? It's generous of you, but there's a huge amount of scholarship money out there for grad programs. Besides the fact that PhD programs are paid for, top candidates often get 30-50% scholarships for MA programs if the schools really want them. There's also a lot of scholarship money if you know where to look. My sister managed to get a humanities MA program funded through various scholarships, and we all know how little money there is in humanities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that you delve into the scholarship amounts at these schools. A 20K award will not be enough to bring you to in state tuition. UMD is very reasonably priced.

Yup. Go on college confidential to get a feel for the awards. If the sticker price is $70K, and for a 1550 SAT/35 ACT you get $30K, and you can't afford $40K....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please arrange list in most liberal to most conservative or vice versa.

OMG, OP - do your own work on this.

For heaven's sake.

Why are you so bent out of shape by this question?

[Anonymous]

LIBERALISH Forbes 2017 Financial Grade added where I know them (couldn't find the 2018 full list)
Grinnell (IA) A
Mount Holyoke (MA) A
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (MD) A
Kalamazoo (MI) A-
St. Olaf (MN) A
Beloit (WI) B
Lawrence (WI) A
St. Lawrence (NY) B+
Kenyon (OH) A
Oberlin (OH) A
Wooster (OH) A
Lewis & Clark (OR) C
Guilford (NC) C
Allegheny (PA) B
Bryn Mawr (PA) A+
Juniata (PA) B-
Muhlenberg (PA) B
Swarthmore (PA) A+
Ursinus (PA) B

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Dickinson (PA) A
Denison (OH) A
Davidson (NC) A+
Lafayette (PA) A

CONSERVATIVISH
Bucknell (PA) A
Hobart (NY) B
Rhodes (TN) A
Sewanee (TN) A
Union (NY) C-
Wofford B



Take these ratings with a grain of salt--there are a lot of critiques of Forbes' methodology. But I would say if a college has below a B in this system, I would investigate further. Above B, I think they are trying to collapse too many diverse settings into one grading system so there are going to be some quirky outcomes. Of this list, it looks like Union, Guilford, Lewis & Clark and possibly Juniata fall in the below B category (as of 2017).

[Anonymous]

I think that Union College in NY, the competitive one, has an A ranking. My kid looked at it this year but didn't like it -- I would call it more middle of the road. Also, I think of kids that go to St. Lawrence in NY as more conservative, but those that go to Sarah Lawrence as very artsy and liberal.

[Anonymous]

Adjusted to correct Union's financial grade (there are 3 Union Colleges! And 1 Union University! I never knew) and switch St. Lawrence to "middle of the road"

LIBERALISH Forbes 2017 Financial Grade added where I know them (couldn't find the 2018 full list)
Grinnell (IA) A
Mount Holyoke (MA) A
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (MD) A
Kalamazoo (MI) A-
St. Olaf (MN) A
Beloit (WI) B
Lawrence (WI) A

Kenyon (OH) A
Oberlin (OH) A
Wooster (OH) A
Lewis & Clark (OR) C
Guilford (NC) C
Allegheny (PA) B
Bryn Mawr (PA) A+
Juniata (PA) B-
Muhlenberg (PA) B
Swarthmore (PA) A+
Ursinus (PA) B

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Dickinson (PA) A
Denison (OH) A
Davidson (NC) A+
Union (NY) A
St. Lawrence (NY) B+
Lafayette (PA) A

CONSERVATIVISH
Bucknell (PA) A
Hobart (NY) B
Rhodes (TN) A
Sewanee (TN) A

Wofford B