Monmouth College in Illinois is a small liberal arts college with genuine Scottish heritage—it's one of the oldest continuously coeducational colleges in the nation, and that progressive DNA still shows. The 1,200-student body means you know people, and the curriculum is built around close faculty-student relationships.
Programs in business, sciences, education, and liberal arts all benefit from small class sizes and professors who actually mentor. The Illinois location puts you between Chicago and St. Louis, and the campus itself has real character—historic buildings and a tight community that knows itself.
This is a school that believes in the liberal arts mission and backs it up with real academic engagement. If you want an affordable small college where you're not invisible, Monmouth works.