I’m mostly interested in LACs, and I’m looking for colleges that are relatively close to/in a big city. Preferrably east coast, but it doesn’t have to be. I don’t want to go to a commuter school, or one where Greek life plays a big role. And something that gives good merit aid, since I’d like this to be a financial safety as well.
And I know that this is a long list of requirements, idk if any school would fit this criteria, so if you have any suggestions that meet only “safety school with good debate program,” that’s fine too! Thank you!
Look into Fordham and Lewis and Clark. Also Hobart and William Smith if you don’t mind being in the middle of nowhere.
Bradley University: http://www.bradley.edu/academic/departments/communication/speech/.
Because I don’t know your statistics or finances, I can’t give an opinion whether this is a “safety” school or not.
It’s not an LAC, but Alabama has very good assured merit for stats, and a very good Speech and Debate Forensics team.
http://forensics.ua.edu
You could easily end up with two scholarships that stack…one from the Univ, and one from the forensic team (auditions, I think, are in the winter). I know of several students who are going to Bama for almost totally free because they stack the Full Tuition award with the Forensics award.
The forensics scholarship has a separate application.
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UA Speech and Debate Team Members Bring Home Championship, All-America Honor
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama students Collin Metcalf and Hannah Fowler are just the latest in a long line of national champions and All-Americans.
Metcalf, a junior from Cantonment, Fla., and Fowler, a senior from Harrisburg, Ill., are members of the Alabama Forensic Council, UA’s speech and debate team, which recently competed in the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events Tournament, where Metcalf won a national championship in extemporaneous speaking, and Fowler was named to the 2014 AFA-NIET All-American Team.
“This was the third National Final Round appearance for Collin in extemp,” said Robert Imbody, director of UA’s Alabama Forensic Council. “He was a favorite for the round before the tournament even began. I had hoped he would earn a title in his senior year, but once I saw the round, I knew he had a very good chance of winning.”
Metcalf placed 10th overall in the competition, with an additional third-place finish in impromptu speaking and a quarter-final appearance in persuasive speaking.
Fowler placed ninth in the program oral interpretation category.
“Hannah earned her place on the All-American squad by excelling in the three areas the team requires: competitive success, academic success and community service,” Imbody said. “She is very deserving of the recognition as a four-year team member and one of the best students UA has to offer. The All-American team is in place to recognize well-rounded students in our activity, and Hannah is the epitome of that.”
Overall, the team placed ninth out of 83 colleges and universities competing.
Below listed are other semi- and quarter-finalists from the Alabama team…
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Because of the assured merit awards for stats, this easily could be a financial safety for you. You may not know this but safeties rarely give very good aid, so one that would give LARGE awards for stats, can be a financial safety.
Greek life is active at Bama, but most students are not Greek.
What are your stats?
Edit…I see that you’re a likely NMF… If so, then Bama would give you a huge award.
@gandalf78 Oh sorry, my stats are:
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.2 W
ACT: 34 (34R/33M/35R/35S)
Class Rank: Top 2% of 675
Likely NMSF/NMF
I do a bunch of stuff w speech and debate, activism & political clubs, volunteering at nonprofits, and orchestra
My family’s upper middle class, so financial aid probably wouldn’t give us all that much, but we still need help to pay for college, which is why merit scholarships would be really nice
I’ll check those out @lalalemma, & @mom2collegekids thanks SO much! Extremely helpful!
Admissions-wise, Bradley should be a safety for you. Here is a link to the cost estimator for Bradley: https://admissions.bradley.edu/ssl/estimator/?status=viewtab1. Your kind of statistics should get you some automatic merit/grant money, plus some money as an OOS student; and I believe that speech/forensics students are eligible for scholarships as well.
George Mason has a strong speech program and meets your criteria for being near a big city
Wake Forest has one of the best policy teams in the nation, if you’d be interested in learning spreading, progressive args.(k’s, disads, CPs/Plans, theory/topicality etc) I’ve done a few policy tournaments and its definitely different from PuFo and a little different from LD, but it’s really fun. It’s definitely not a safety school, but you look like a great candidate. WF also gives out debate scholarships. I’m an LDer who will probably be switching over to mock trial once I get into college. I also second George Mason, but their speech program is way stronger than debate.
@pineapple1203 hehe good ol’ spreading, theory shells, kritiks, and all the add-ons 
@PetEngineer
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I also had the EcoFem k run on my partner and I at NSDA nats last year. Not fun.
LAC + East Coast + urban + minimal Greek + strong debating + safety?
Something’s gotta give.
The first 3 criteria alone narrow your choices down to not many more than:
URichmond
Goucher
Haverford
Swarthmore
Bryn Mawr (women only)
Barnard (women only)
Sarah Lawrence
Trinity
Haverford and Swarthmore give little or no merit aid (and are very selective). The only clear safety on that list is Goucher, so check out its debate team and merit aid. Sarah Lawrence is a near-safety and does offer merit aid, but I’m not finding any reference to a Sarah Lawrence debate team on the web.
Trinity offers merit aid. Only about 6% of students get awards, according to Kiplinger, but the average is ~$25K (which is relatively high). A Trinity student started a debate team in 2014 (http://www.trincoll.edu/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/pages/Trinity%E2%80%99s-Jake-Villarreal-Starts-Debate-Team.aspx).
The University of Richmond is fairly generous with merit aid and should be comfortable match (for admission, if not for its biggest merit awards.) It has a fairly high level of Greek participation (19% of men, 32% of women). It has a debate team.
http://news.richmond.edu/news/article/-/456/university-of-richmond-debate-team-cracks-top-25.html
You may want to consider LACs (or small universities) in other regions besides the East.
Check out Creighton University, Lewis & Clark College, Whitman College, and others on the following list:
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-with-a-winning-tradition-in-speech-and-debate/461/
Schools are NOT safeties if you can’t afford them!
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My family’s upper middle class, so financial aid probably wouldn’t give us all that much, but we still need help to pay for college, which is why merit scholarships would be really nice
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How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess.
Some of the suggestions here are probably not safeties because they may not be affordable.