<p>University of Pittsburgh has offered many full-tuition merit scholarships in the past. These are not linked to National Merit status, and students need only submit an application to the school to be considered. They are a very good deal, have become increasingly competitive, and have attracted a fairly large cohort of extremely talented students to the school. </p>
<p>From what I understand, students need to maintain a GPA of only a 3.0 to keep the scholarship, and this allows adventurous students to take academic risks and explore areas outside of their initial comfort zones, or to confidently major in areas such as engineering with low average GPA’s. Pitt offers a wide range of courses and majors, including standard liberal arts majors.</p>
<p>And, yes, I am aware that OP asked about liberal arts schools and private schools, and Pitt is neither. Nonetheless, from what we have observed, honors colleges tend to offer the advantages of both LAC’s (smaller classes with increased demands on writing, emphasis on teaching ability in choosing professors to teach honors classes - especially helpful in intro classes) and large research universities (access to plentiful research opportunities and graduate courses.)</p>
<p>Among private schools, Rice also offers significant merit aid (20k) which, combined with Rice’s COA, can make the school more affordable for many students. However, these scholarships are less of a sure deal. Students from our high school have also gotten very good merit aid from Emory. I believe that several other reach schools (Vanderbilt?) also offer merit aid, so I would suggest to OP that if their student is going to apply to any reach schools, they choose either schools that offer merit aid or that offer generous need-based aid to students whose families are in the “donut hole.”</p>