<p>Aside from schools like the Ivies and top LACs, what schools promise to meet full financial need with no loans?</p>
<p>For my situation in particular: I’m from a little town in rural Arkansas. My SAT score is 2290, my GPA is 3.9, and I have four SAT II scores each above 700. Six APs by the time I apply. Extracurriculars make the most of my circumstances.</p>
<p>Unsure of a major, but English, art history, and anthropology are possibilities. I prefer LAC-size to 10,000 students at the most. Aiming for the Midwest or Northeast, and flexible on rural vs. urban. I’m looking for matches and safeties.</p>
<p>Somewhere on CC is a list of schools that meet full demonstrated (according to their standards) financial need, and another list of schools that do not use loans as part of the financial aid picture.</p>
<p>One of them is Vanderbilt, which I mention only because I am familiar with it. The record you posted appears to make you a viable candidate. Its undergraduate student body is a bit over 6K, and the campus includes a law school and medical college along with graduate programs, so the size of the campus is not LAC-like. There is a strong undergraduate focus, however. The campus is technically urban, about a mile and a half from downtown, many restaurants, coffee shops and such around the perimeter, but the feel of the campus is not particularly urban. </p>
<p>It is located in the “mid South”. At least half of the undergrad. student body is not from the South.</p>
<p>If you are looking for good schools that give generous financial aid, that do not gap and do not include loans in the f.a. package, I suggest not getting too picky about geography at the beginning of the search. There aren’t that many schools that fit the bill. By all means visit the schools before making final decisions. You might be surprised and find something you like that didn’t completely fit your ideal at the beginning of the search.</p>