<p>Beloit also has the Eaton scholarship, which is for $5-$10K/yr, which one can get with as low as a 3.25 GPA and leadership qualities. You are right that these are competitive scholarships that require interviews; but 26.7 of Beloit freshmen are awarded merit aid averaging $12565/yr. With her GPA and ACT, the OP is certainly a good candidate for a merit scholarship from Beloit or a similar school, which would bring her COA down to about $28,000/yr. No, it’s not as cheap as the University of Alabama, especially since the OP is in-state but certain students would find Beloit, with merit aid, an excellent value for the money.</p>
<p>I’ll name another one: Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. COA=$40020, but 26% receive merit scholarships averaging $16478. If the OP got a merit scholarship from Coe, it would bring her COA down to $23,521.</p>
<p>Don’t use “average merit” as a way to subtract from COA. Some top students may get full-rides $40k and full tuition, while some may get $10k or less. Same goes with FA.</p>
<p>The OP needs to apply to a variety of LACs where her final stats are in the top 25% and hope to get enough merit to make going affordable. However, since money is an issue, she needs to apply to some financial safeties where she’s either assured merit or the cost is affordable.</p>
<p>Apply where you want and hope for merit aid. Also apply to a few places where you can afford to pay list price. </p>
<p>For liberal arts colleges where you can likely pay sticker price (17K-25K total cost of attendance) look at COPLAC schools such as</p>
<p>Truman State College in Missouri
University of Minnesota-Morris
SUNY Geneseo
UNC Asheville</p>
<p>See
[Council</a> of Public Liberal Arts Colleges - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Public_Liberal_Arts_Colleges]Council”>Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Also consider top liberal arts programs in Canada. They cost between ($20K-$25K, total cost of attendance) </p>
<p>Mt Allison in New Brunswick Canada (Has produced more Rhodes scholars than any other liberal arts college in North America). This way you can get small liberal arts, affordable and study abroad all at the same time!</p>
<p>Acadia University in Nova Scotia Canada</p>
<p>See discussion in
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/90768-best-liberal-arts-school-canada-what-do-you-think.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/90768-best-liberal-arts-school-canada-what-do-you-think.html</a></p>
<p>Others privates that are significantly less expensive than their peers
Emory and Henry (VA)
Hillsdale (MI)
Lyon (AR)</p>
<p>*Apply where you want and hope for merit aid. Also apply to a few places where you can afford to pay list price. *</p>
<p>Exactly! And apply to a few places that will give you assured merit.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, because what you think you may get and what your actually get are many times very different amounts. And, a lot of the numbers the schools use are from prior years, when times may have been better.</p>
<p>Hi guys! thanks for all the input!</p>
<p>I guess to clear some things up: the schools I listed above such as Wesleyan and whatnot were more starting points than anything to show what kind of school I had felt attracted to so far. I came across them first in my search because they are the ones that are ranked the highest and most talked about, especially on message boards like this. However, I also became aware when looking at colleges how few I really did know about, and how there had to be one out there similar to one of the schools above that would match my price point and my stats, but may be a bit lesser known. </p>
<p>I forgot where it was mentioned above, but the 3.95 GPA is from honors/advanced classes.</p>
<p>I actually retook the ACT today, and I feel much more confident about it! After doing and redoing those practice tests, the science especially felt so much easier. I guess we’ll see in 5 to 8 weeks! I’ll need that time to convince myself not to put too much value into what the ACT says, no matter how hard that may be. The more I hear about all these different test taking “strategies” the more it feels like these tests are games to be played rather than a measure of intelligence. It upsets me when kids at school get so competitive about it. But I guess that’s a discussion for a different thread…haha.</p>
<p>I’m talking to my parents about getting together a more specific number of how much they are willing to pay- they have enough save up to cover instate tuition and I would probably just end up living at home to save money if that happened. Loans are an option, but hopefully nothing too major.</p>