My D22’s college list had many of the same schools as yours. Her top choice was Reed, which I think also meets a lot of your daughter’s requirements (except it may tip slightly into the pressure cooker environment). My daughter received a grant and work study award worth about $34k, but the COA was going to be over 50k, which was too much given we have two younger children and are going to have many years with two kids in college simultaneously.
One of her best friends is at Lewis and Clark and is loving it. I think she received a good award package as well. Her other best friend is at Whitman in Walla Walla, WA. It may be too rural for your daughter, but it fits in other ways.
I mainly wanted to reply because we are also TN residents and UTC was the only in-state school she considered. She was accepted to the Honors college, which has a $2,000/year additional scholarship. When added to the TN Hope scholarship, the Chancellor’s merit scholarship, the cost of attendance was so much lower than any of her top choices (and I’m a professor at a different institution, so we also receive discounted tuition). Because she’s a Philosophy/Sociology double major (Spanish and Honors minor), keeping undergrad costs low was a priority because she’s planning for grad school.
It has turned out to be a very good fit for her. Her class sizes are small - only 13 in her Honors Humanities six-credit-hour discussion seminar, only 15 in Logic, and even only 40 in the intro Sociology course. Honors is very supportive and has many opportunities. She applied for and received a research fellowship to work with a professor this semester for $12/hour, which is very flexible (between five and ten hours per week). They just took a trip to Montgomery, AL last weekend to visit the Equal Justice initiative with all costs paid by the college. They have study abroad stipends, stipends to attend honors conferences, etc. There are only 50-60 freshman in the honors program (250-ish total undergrads), so it helped her get the liberal arts college environment in a larger school. Not pressure cooker at all, but she’s being pushed and stretched, which is what she wanted.
Though there are 10,000 undergrads, it doesn’t feel at all that large. She’s not into sports or greek life, and she’s found plenty of people like her. She loves Chattanooga and there’s lots of walkable things to do near campus. She’s happy and adjusted much better than I expected given it wasn’t her top choice. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.
Good luck to your daughter!