St. Olaf

Beloit! My DS did the POWER Application last week, got admitted, and received a $40k/year scholarship with similar stats!

The Jesuits are very generous with aid! Dayton (marianist) as well.

If he likes outdoor activities like hiking or skiing, I'd look at Clarkson or UVM.

Bucknell is the best choice for all DCUM offspring, regardless of interests, aptitude, or record.

Resistance is futile.

Ideally it would be 40K or less, but we could stretch to about 50K for something special. Beyond that would be fiscally irresponsible for us, as we don't stand to inherit anything from our families, have few assets, and need to save for retirement. On paper our salary looks great, but we live in a very high-cost area, we're renters, and we have another kid just a few years behind this one who will also need to go to college, not to mention grad school looming in the future.

Anonymous wrote:Elon (is that too far south?)
Franklin & Marshall
Duquesne
American

Some very good suggestions above.

Elon very Greek.

Anonymous wrote:Bennington College

No money

Anonymous wrote:Y'all are naming schools that aren't that easy to get into and won't offer lots of merit aid to a student with this profile. I cannot believe how clueless so many posters are. Think!

My recommendation would be to look at Jesuit colleges and universities. Many have excellent biology departments. It doesn't matter if you're not Catholic. And a student with this profile will likely get good merit aid.

+1 on the Jesuit schools: Fordham is my favorite, but Marquette, Fairfield, Loyola, and Scranton are also good places to look at (in that order).

Go to Big J Consulting, which has a very comprehensive spreadsheet of how much merit aid various colleges offer and to what percentage of the class. Apply to need-aware colleges - maybe counterintuitively, these are more likely to give merit aid to otherwise full-pay students because those students will bring in more revenue to the college if they attend, even with the merit discount, than students with greater need. Clark, Dickinson, Hobart William Smith, Gettysburg, Connecticut College, Union might be good options.

Allegheny

OP, can you share your annual budget for this kid's college costs? That might help give some idea of whether typical merit from certain schools will be enough.

Elon (is that too far south?)
Franklin & Marshall
Duquesne
American

Some very good suggestions above.

OP here, just replying to say thanks for all the replies and I am reading everything and adding schools to the list for him to look into. Bear in mind we really do need merit aid, so if a school is known to be stingy, it's probably better not to get his hopes up. But I welcome recommendations for generous schools, even lesser known ones, as long as they offer a decent standard of education and grad outcomes. He's not an academic powerhouse, but he is bright and would be bored in a sea of non-serious kids. Please keep the suggestions coming. Appreciated!

Look at the following Jesuit colleges in the NE and midwest:

Canisius
Marquette
Loyola MD
Loyola Chicago
Scranton
St Joe's
Xavier
John Carroll