By U of T, do you mean University of Toronto?
Reminder - OP is looking for schools within 6 hrs drive of Roanoke (Southern Virginia) at $35k preferably with a potential upside to $45k.
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If Furman is still.on the list, you may be interested to read this article about the president of Finland, who is a Furman alum.
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Yes, hopefully the links underneath would make that clear as well as the reference to St Michaels and Victoria Colleges.
.. for a student who is already completing junior-year level classes. THAT is an even more difficult limiting criterion than budget.
At a very strong French Studies program, such as Dickinson, OP would start in 231 (Cultural Histories), continue with 232 (Professional French) - classes typically considered 300-level at many colleges and not necessarily offered every semester the way Dickinson does- then take a 300-level seminar each semester of sophomore year, spend their entire junior year at Dickinson-in-Toulouse including Sciences Po classes and internship + research material gathering, and would return for senior year to take more 300-level seminars as per interests as well as a capstone class and writing a thesis. This would often be complemented with another major or a minor for breadth, depending on interests or goals.
At a typical college, there would only be study abroad (most colleges typically offer semester program nowadays unless they own a dedicated center but it’s always possible to combine one semester in France and one semester in another country; it’s not always possible to take classes not meant for Americans or mix with French students and it’s even more uncommon to be taking Grande École classes vs. common university classes, which tend to be the poor parent in the French system) and a couple senior seminars left to take, perhaps with an extra junior-year level class.
It’s not enough to check whether a class is listed in the catalog - it’s important to see frequency, whether 300 and 400 seminars are diverse (literature, history, contemporary culture&politics, film/media studies, business) and broach France as well as other French speaking areas (most colleges would include North Africa, Québec, West Africa), if that variety rotates (typically there’s be 1 regularly offered Fall, 1 regularly offered Spring, and 1/2/3 offered once every other year), and to check what’s being offered that year (dept head should be able to give indication as to what’s scheduled that year). Some universities just won’t have the breadth/depth to accommodate OP’s child.
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Interesting and you’ve dug in deep so I’m sure OP appreciates that - I see the same schools over and over in ranking - haven’t seen Dickinson…have seen Furman.
Vandy comes up a lot - it’s a tad over 6 hours and has big need plus merit opportunities. I assume it works as they offer the major but obviously it’s a very, very hard acceptance.
Most schools that have the major seem to have credits that count starting at a higher level than an elementary language.
Hopefully OP is able to flex on some desires.
Getting into Dickinson is one thing. Then affording it is another….
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Some of the schools in Canada that @MYOS1634 mentioned will most likely come out under the desired price point (keeping the exchange rate in mind), most likely some will not. None will be within 6 hours of Southern Virginia.
Some of these schools, and some other Canadian universities, offer French immersion courses over the summer. For example, one daughter took a 5 week French immersion course which I think ran from late July through approximately the end of August. The cost was very reasonable. This should be possible to set up as an exchange student from a university in the US. Our daughter did find some advantages of taking the French immersion courses in a community where there were a significant number of native French speakers. As one example, the students cooked their own food over the weekend, so on Friday they went shopping (the course provided them with money to purchase food). The shop where they went to get the food was run by a bilingual but native Francophone couple who were playing along, so the students needed to shop entirely in French. My daughter found this to be an interesting experience, and came home after 5 weeks able to have a simple conversation with me in French (which is about all that I can handle at this point).
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you might look at Goucher? I think I recall they had a pretty good study abroad program when we were looking. Not sure about French specifically.
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Awesome idea and likely big merit in order to compete with others.
Another to look at with the major is Washington College. They go deep merit wise (have to) so perhaps the cost can be met. To @MYOS1634 comment, are any of these in depth enough ?
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One possibility would be…take a look at consortia that allow students to take classes at neighboring colleges, which can greatly expand the foreign language possibilities.
ARCHE Consortium in Atlanta, about 6h45m from Roanoke in current traffic conditions, or a very short direct flight on Delta.
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Oglethorpe (GA): About 1500 undergrads at this Atlanta school, and students can take classes at other area colleges (like Emory, which offers through a PhD in French). Its Flagship 50 program means that tuition might be the same as at UVA.
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Morehouse (GA): About 2700 undergrads at this men’s HBCU with a sticker price of $48k, and your son could receive sufficient merit to bring this within budget.
Baltimore Collegetown is about 4h23m from Roanoke in current driving conditions, and Johns Hopkins is a participant that offers through a doctorate in romance languages.
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Goucher (MD): About 1k undergrads. Goucher College – Colleges That Change Lives
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Loyola Maryland: About 4k undergrads at this Jesuit college, not as likely to hit budget as Goucher
Pittsburgh (and its consortium) is about 5h56m from Roanoke in current driving conditions. U. of Pittsburgh offers graduate programs in French while Carnegie Mellon offers through a Bachelor’s (but it’s potenial for more course offerings).
And…Pittsburgh is a bust, because no colleges with fewer than 7k undergrads offer a French major. Leaving it here so that people don’t go down the same rabbit hole I did.
Washington D.C. (and its consortium) is about 3h49m from Roanoke in current driving conditions. George Washington, Georgetown, and Howard all offer Bachelor’s degrees in French, and U. of Maryland - College Park is within the consortium and offers through a PhD in French.
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American (D.C.): About 7800 undergrads has already been mentioned
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Catholic U. (D.C.): About 3100 undergrads
Okay, leaving off the consortium possibilities, what about:
Centre College (KY): About 6h12m in current traffic from Roanoke. They have a popular French major here, so the offerings are likely to be more robust than at most smaller colleges. And I didn’t realize I already mentioned this upthread, so seconding it.
And I was going to mention Oberlin again, and other schools that have already been mentioned, so I’ll stop going down that road.
And don’t sleep on your in-state publics. I’m thinking William & Mary, but also U. of Mary Washington and Christopher Newport.
I understand that Dickinson is at the top of the list, but what other schools are on it? Posters here may be able to give feedback as to which sound like better fits based on what your son is looking for.
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In addition to @AustenNut “don’t sleep on” your in-state publics, you might enjoy this article about Mary Washington.
Six Ways Mary Washington Prepared Us for Life in France – The Francofile
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Have you looked at App state? Can be very affordable. French | Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures
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This is information from over a decade ago, but I would say Mary Washington is not a strong rigor French program. When my eldest was looking at colleges, she sat in on some French classes.
She had recently sat in on a class at Wellesley, and she really enjoyed it. Small class, sitting around a large table, discussing a book she had read (in French), so she was able to participate in the discussion.
Visit to Mary Washington, mainly because a coach was interested (and the coach was great, gave us a nice tour and spent a lot of time answering questions). She sat in on a similar level French class, and it was not at all rigorous.
Students were sweating it over an upcoming test that was stuff my kid probably understood when she was in middle school. Crossed it off the list.
My eldest went to American undergrad, SIS and Economics degrees, and added a minor in French. Did not intend to minor, though realized she needed more credits to get two degrees (not just majors, had completed major requirements and just needed credit hours).
Took four French courses the last semester - she had taken the one French course needed for the SIS degree freshman year. She also had a French related internship, which was a great experience.
There are lots of places to get a French degree, though in or near DC would also give some good internship possibilities.
I should add that all three of my kids went to a French immersion school from Pre-K through a few years of elementary school. All three are at least proficient, with eldest likely fluent. All three studied an additional language in HS, with older two studying another language in grad school.
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Thanks for all of these useful and informative replies! I have a lot to process! (And sorry for the delay in response-I am slammed with work!)
The list is currently fluid and we will surely make additions. But as it currently stands-
-Dickinson
-W&L (big reach)
-W&M
-UMW
-Longwood
My son is loosely considering Sewanee (a bit too far and remote for him, I suspect), Goucher, Elon, Wofford (?), maybe Centre (although I contacted them with a question in the spring and got no response, whereas other schools were very responsive!)…..
Others (who know us/him personally) have mentioned Bard, Rhodes, and Hendrix but these all seem too far to suit us so I’ve not investigated them.
We are all leaning more in the direction of smaller schools. W&M is on the list because I’m an alum and struggle to let go of my experience of the school, but based on our recent tour it has grown and changed significantly since my day. We haven’t looked at huge schools like VT or USC.
We’ve toured 2 big-ish schools (he liked CofC but not UVA), 1 medium sized school (W&M), and 3 smaller schools (W&L—he also lived there for a few weeks, Dickinson, and Roanoke, but the latter is off the list :)), and we all liked the smaller size a bit better. I think he is a big fish in a small pond kind of guy, at least at this point in life. And I think, coming from his background, that a more intimate environment makes sense.
The language bit does make things trickier especially at smaller schools, since he’s fluent and will be taking a 300-level class this fall. He’s also highly proficient in Spanish—approaching fluency. I have found that meeting with the French dept is so far the best way for us to sniff out whether a school could support him in languages.
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Do any offer graduate study he can also take ?
If you visit Sewanee, you’re going through Chatt. Please stop at UTC. You’re driving past it.
You won’t get close to cost at Charleston. Chatt is touristy but not wealthy touristy..like Charleston. It’s more attraction touristy.
The school has a more traditional campus than Charleston. But its walkable (simply across a small bridge) to the downtown.
More importantly you can be at budget. No can do at C of C. Not close and later years cost more.
Personally, I think it’s a very fair sub.
Sewanee - check the NPC. They meet need.
Salisbury is a smallish public with French. Just under 6 hours. Direct costs may be $28.5k with merit.
Did I miss - how did your student do on the May SAT ?
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Since you’ve made it as far north as Dickinson, you might check out Franklin & Marshall. They have an outstanding French Dept.
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I have nothing in particular to add to this conversation, I just wanted to tell you that I think you and he are doing a great job of focusing on what’s important to him and really thinking about how to craft his list. I started following this thread because of some random similarities (I’m also a VA resident, and a million years ago went to W&M where I minored in French - and while not as fluent as your son, in HS I went to governor’s school for French and felt very strong so I started in the 300 level and took some very interesting classes, so it’s got a bit of a soft spot in my heart).
Anyhoo, nothing I’ve researched for my own guys would be particularly relevant for you - they have very different interests, and wanted to be much farther away. But I wanted to take a minute to tell you that this random internet stranger thinks you are doing a great job helping your guy navigate through all of this! 
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That is super kind. Thank you. This is my first rodeo (he’s the oldest), so it can feel daunting. He’s a great guy—just the nicest human—and I would love to see him land in a place that suits him well.
Also, Go Tribe! I still love that place. I took 4 semesters of French at W&M (all intro; I took Latin in hs) & loved it! And my best friend as an adult was a double major in French there also.
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Not going to share the # as I don’t have his permission, and he plans to take again this fall, but he did well enough to submit to most of the schools listed (in range or higher than the 75th percentile, depending on the school), but we probably wouldn’t submit to W&L or W&M, unless we see a jump in the fall. He blew the English out of the water, and could use some tightening up on math. For the paltry amount of prep he did, I was satisfied, and I’ve told him that more prep will probably help, but am putting the ball in his court to actually do it. So-we shall see.
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OK - just so you know, some schools have merit tables based on them - so it helps you understand the cost basis.
Hopefully he can drill on the math and get it up.
You’ve likely seen this but if not, here is what i mean…for schools that provide.
In-State Merit Scholarship - Admissions - University of Mary Washington
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One of my kids also started at 300 level French classes in college. One thing they did was look at the topics being taught at that level, as you really get into whatever the professors’ main interests are at that point.
There were schools that seemed to focus primarily on French culture/history/literature, some that focused on Canadian French diaspora more, some that focused on French Africa/colonialism, etc. Very few smaller schools had multiple strong focuses. Just another thing to consider and make sure your child is interested in the class subjects being taught at those levels.
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