Agnes Scott is definitely an academic safety. They also guarantee $22K in merit. Don’t know if that brings it down enough or not. We toured there. Loved Decatur.
Hollins is another small women’s college to look at. It’s in a smaller city (Roanoke VA), but beautiful setting. They have a great study abroad program and field studies. My D22 has a friend there majoring in Biology. They will give good merit too. She could be in the running for a full tuition scholarship with her great grades and scores.
UNC has a great Marine Sciences program. I am acquainted with some of the profs there. They do regular trips to the Galapagos and have done some fascinating research on the Great Barrier Reef and other stuff. Some of the other UNC system schools like ECU also have great programs, but I am not sure I would pick them over Clemson or CoC.