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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think that the main attraction for many to CTCL schools may be merit scholarship awards for above average--as opposed to superior--students.

A concern might be internship & employment opportunities.

The low interest rates of a couple of years ago helped some of these schools to raise their financial ratings along with cost-cutting of low enrollment majors & streamlining administrative payrolls.

Again, would be wise to check retention rates (percent of students who return for the sophomore year) and 6 year graduation rates for any school--not just CTCL schools--of interest.

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Superior students may also fall into the "donut hole" category. Simply because they are superior doesn't mean the $ spigots open at non-merit schools. [/quote]

You misunderstood my point & I was not as clear as I should have been. Superior students can get merit scholarships at better schools and can automatically qualify for substantial merit scholarship awards at several state flagship universities and their respective honors colleges.[/quote]

Schools like Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, etc do not give merit scholarships.  Period.  You get need based aid, or pay full price.  If a superior student can't afford 80k/year, they go down the list and find the best schools that will give them merit aid such as Denison and some of the other CTCL schools mentioned here. You will find superior students at that level.[/quote]

Williams, Amherst, & Bowdoin are a totally different class of schools than those written about in CTCL.[/quote]

That is my point.  The poster I was responding to was saying that the superior students could get merit at better schools than CTLCs.  The better schools don't actually give merit aid.[/quote]

You are confusing the word "better" with "best". The best schools may not award merit scholarships, but many better schools do.[/quote]

Genuine question: what small schools do people recommend that offer merit scholarships of 25-45K? That's what many people are looking for (and finding) from the CTCL list: small school, low student-faculty ratio, good merit.

Posters are 100% correct that some of the CTCLs have low graduation rates (Evergreen State, Guilford for example), and/or very worrisome financial resources (Antioch, Birmingham Southern, for example). So CTCL-curious folks will be wise to do their homework. That said, many of the CTCLs do quite well on these metrics, while offering substantial merit. For example, Whitman, St. Olaf, Denison, Centre, Rhodes, all have higher graduation rates than several DCUM favorites (I won't name them, bc people seem to find comparisons triggering -- even as they make them! -- but you can find a list here: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-grad-rate)...and these schools so do while getting  A or A+ ratings from Forbes and while offering incredible merit aid.

I don't think anyone here is married to CTCL as a concept -- w[b]e're looking for decent, affordable, small-school options. It is very nice that one can attend one fair and see a bunch of such schools in person, even if it means walking past a few tables. [/b]

So what do people actually recommend in this category?[/quote]

Exactly.  I'm practical and not swayed by the marketing crud. My experience for this in my mind is that CTCL stands for Colleges that Cost Less for those of us with kids who want a LAC.  You can be an A+ student with perfect SATs and there are very few colleges "ranked above" (which I don't care that much about) these that will bring the cost down to 30-40k/yr.  When DC gets 0 at Carleton, 10K/yr merit at Macalester and 30k merit at St Olaf,  I can look at all the metrics and see there is 0 reason to spend 120k more for Carleton or 40k more for Macalester than St. Olaf.   This organization helps you find the liberal arts colleges that offer you merit aid and lets you meet them in person.[/quote]

+1, especially as the quality of education is similar. One of my best friends is a math professor and says kids at different colleges and universities generally follow a similar curriculum, use the same books, and have very similar opportunities to learn. One of my kids took a geology class at community college in high school, while her friend took geology at U Penn. They used the same textbook and covered the same material. My DC had more field trips and learned a great deal through an open-ended independent project she had to do (she spent a lot of time on it, had an absolute blast, and did some very deep learning). When they talked about what they had learned, my kid was much more knowledgeable. Geology was a major interest for her while her friend was ticking a box, so this explains some of it, but if you want to learn, you will be able to learn abundantly and thoroughly virtually wherever you go. [/quote]

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