This is for year of 2023.
What are you asking?
The best merit scholarships come from the colleges to which you are admitted. So…to get those, you need to target colleges where your standardized test scores (if used) and your GPA will put you in a place to receive those awards. Guaranteed ones are more assured than competitive ones. So start looking for schools where YOUR stats stand out.
If you are willing to post your stats here, I’m sure you will get some suggestions where to start.
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Thanks! My kid got SAT 1540 and weighted GPA 4.39 in PA.
Is your kid willing to go out of the region?
Look at the scholarships offered by Arizona State, University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, University of Alabama. Those are guaranteed awards right now…but that could change for the 2023-2024 year.
Has your student taken the PSAT junior year test? Is he a national Merit Finalist?
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Auto merit schools for grades and scores:
Ole Miss
Alabama
Arizona
Miami OH
New Mexico
ETA - @thumper1 beat me!
What is your budget? Many, many schools offer merit which is nice but doesn’t get you to your desired net costs. If we know budget, we can advise on schools.
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Not sure Miami of Ohio is automatic and guaranteed.
Also, to the OP…what is your annual budget for college?
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Hi @Bill_Shaw I added the word “for” in your title as I think that is what you were asking. I will remove it if you prefer.
At first I thought you were asking - how do colleges apply merit to the “sticker price” COA along with other need based aid awarded. That is related, but that will depend on the college. On CC, you will see people asking if you can stack merit and need based aid at certain colleges.
Look at each college website for info about their process. For some it is built in and students are automatically considered and there are no additional steps and for others there are a series of hoops.
Remember some on this list only add up to a few students at each college, but draw in thousands of applications - 80 Colleges With Full-Ride Scholarships
This list has some that are great opportunities for those looking beyond the T50 https://www.road2college.com/top-30-colleges-largests-merit-based-scholarships/
And this list shows how varied the aid can be at some state institutions offering merit to the highest percentages of their admitted students - https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/public-schools-that-award-merit-aid-to-most-out-of-state-students
Thanks for the information. Yes, please update the title.
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It is not as simple. Looking at lists is fine but here are the two most important questions that you need to ask/answer:
- What is your budget?
- What is your FAFSA/EFC? This needs to be worked out for each college.
If you are not obsessed with brand/prestige, there are many schools that will love to have your kid and pay him/her top $ based on merit alone. These are schools that need to buy pedigree. If you are looking for transparency then schools that have stated policies are great like the ones already posted above. I personally like Texas Tech a lot. Alabama is great too!
It does not help if your budget is $20K and the school costs $30K after generous financial aid. Most of the smaller liberal arts schools fall into that category. There are however some no loan schools that you may want to look into as well like Amherst, Swarthmore etc. Not easy to get into those, even with a 1540.
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The majority of merit offers come from the schools applied to, it’s kind of a bribe, most of the time the less selective the college, the higher the award, but that’s really a really simplified explanation, many factors can be involved.
The key is to know what your out-of-pocket budget is. If your student gets a merit scholarship of $40k a year, that might sound fantastic – until you do the math and realize that the school’s cost of attendance is $70k/year, and your out-of-pocket budget is $10k/year. That leaves $20k/year unaccounted for.
So, first know what you can pay per year. Then just start researching. Google is your friend.
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Are you looking for a list of colleges where your student is likely to get generous merit aid? What budget are you looking for (i.e., what would you like the price after merit aid to be)? If you are looking for a list, then:
What size school is your child looking for? Potential major? Urban, suburban, or rural? In which state(s) or areas of the country? Climate? How does your student feel about colleges where there’s a lot of focus on intercollegiate athletics or Greek life? Are there any particular extracurriculars that your child would like to continue or pursue in college? Does your student have an idea as to what s/he may want to do after college? Or where s/he would like to live?