How much scholarship money can one expect from an expensive liberal arts school?

I live in a state with some of the highest tuitions in the country (not that it matters for liberal arts colleges, because they're always in the $40,000 range).

Anyway, I've all but given up on them due to the expense and the fact that I don't want to have a huge debt going into graduate school after earning my BS in biology. So...I'd like to know, from personal experience, how much money is generally awarded from non-need based aid (academic achievement money).

If more info is needed for your answer, let me know. Thanks in advance!

With excellent grades and scores, there is quite a lot of merit scholarship money at LACs. The trick is to apply to those where your stats are in the top 10% of the applicant pool. The women's colleges like Smith are well know for generous merit aid. On the college confidential web site, you can find extensive discussions on good schools for merit money if you do a search.

LOL...on a NON-need basis? Good luck with that...
VERY, very little. The sad truth is that unless you play sports or your parents fall below a certain income level and are deemed "in financial need", there simply aren't a lot of scholarship sources out there. From personal experience, I know that I had a 3.8+ GPA (4.0 scale) from all honors/PAT courses, was captain on sports teams, editor in chief of my high school newspaper, just about on every club/organization you can imagine, had lots of community service, etc. and I qualified for absolutely nothing, based on my parents' income (regardless of whether or not they're planning on sharing that income with you). Perhaps you are a minority? That might help...often minority groups have foundations that offer scholarships. But otherwise, sometimes being from just an average, middle class family sucks.

I know I'm not a rarity...I've heard lots of similar 'stories' with high-achieving students from middle class backgrounds. I'd advise you to start looking out of state for more reasonable schools or start seriously saving! ;) Best of luck to youi!