<p>[Merit</a> aid facing reductions - News](<a href=“http://media.www.thejustice.org/media/storage/paper573/news/2010/11/09/News/Merit.Aid.Facing.Reductions-3956292.shtml]Merit”>http://media.www.thejustice.org/media/storage/paper573/news/2010/11/09/News/Merit.Aid.Facing.Reductions-3956292.shtml)</p>
<p>I was very sorry to see this. I wasn’t sure my kid was a candidate, but I was sure hoping for some merit aid. We are in that not-qualified-for-need-based-aid-but-not-comfortably-able-to-shell-out-$53K/year space where merit aid makes a huge difference. There is only one other no-merit-aid school on her list and it’s a reach where she would probably not have been a merit candidate anyhow.</p>
<p>brandeis has been reducing merit aid over the course of several years – “The number of merit aid offered to accepted students has declined by 16 percent since 2006.” but during that same period, the number of students ATTENDING who received merit aid went down 78% – which seems to indicate that merit aid was not being as effective in getting students to choose Brandeis. “The further reductions are due to the fact that many students offered merit aid in recent years declined attend the University.” whereas, they found that offering need based aid had a greater impact on yield. (quotes are from article referenced by OP) </p>
<p>its not clear to me from the article that merit aid is being eliminated rather than just being further reduced – but i have to say the wording of the article could be clearer in that regard. certainly something worth asking about during a campus visit. </p>
<p>DeskPotato (and anyone else hoping for merit aid from Brandeis) – remember that to be considered for any scholarship at Brandeis you have to complete the CSS/Profile – [Brandeis</a> Admissions | Costs/Financial Aid | Scholarships and Fellowships](<a href=“Scholarships and Fellowships | Affordability | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University”>Scholarships and Fellowships | Affordability | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University) – so even if you doubt you’d get financial aid, it may be worth completing it to keep the merit aid options open.</p>
<p>from anecdotal stories, i’ve always been under the impression that Brandeis wants students who really want to be there – so letting that be clearly shown in an interview can’t hurt – and who knows, if they are still giving some merit aid, they may want to be focusing it on those for whom it can in fact make the difference in them choosing to attend, as opposed to just giving it to high stat applicants who they doubt will attend. (purely speculation on my part, but you never know!)</p>
<p>interesting trend… because for my daughter who graduated in 2007 and many of her friends, the merit aid offered is what swung the decision to happily attend Brandeis and made that decision possible.</p>
<p>It would certainly make a difference to us. The other two schools of the greatest interest to my kid do offer merit aid, possibly enough to bring the price down to about the same as our in-state public. If she is offered merit aid elsewhere, it may be hard to convince ourselves that Brandeis is worth twice the money.</p>
<p>What? Merit aid was part of why Brandeis made it to DD’s final list. Well, DD really likes it and I think it’s good, but I really cheered it along because of the likely merit aid. It is the only school we visited in the Boston area. It was one of the VERY few great schools with merit aid. Our state school’s honors program here in Montana is starting to look a lot more appealing. Even if reducing merit aid increases yield, some other favorable thing will decrease.</p>