No merit $ here either. 
As I understand it 80% of AU’s financial aid awards (including merit) are need based - meaning that many students are awarded merit (academic excellence plus) aid based also on financial need and may not have the same high academic achievement as another student who was not awarded any merit aid. A top student with all the right stuff may not receive merit awards because according to the FAFSA, the family can afford to pay for American with/without minimum loans.
This is interesting. Is there name for this kind of merit awarding? “Need-based merit”? I didn’t submit FAFSA to AU, but did CSS. Maybe I shouldn’t have.
Re: the merit aid being somehow need-based… I did not receive any need-based aid from any school after applying for financial aid using both FAFSA and the CSS profile. Our EFC was extremely high so it wasn’t likely, but my parents and I wanted to give it a shot anyways. That being said, American did award me a $20k/year Presidential scholarship. So I don’t think that it’s at all need-based.
I didn’t say all, but from some stats posted here and the particular scholarships received, the question has been raised - how did a student with lower stats get that merit scholarship, while another student with much higher stats, received nothing.
Don’t forget, that merit aid is also configured into need-based aid. In other words, let’s say a student needs 40K a year to attend. If they already have a merit scholarship for 20K, they won’t be awarded 40K on top of that in grant money. They will be awarded a 20K grant instead to meet the entire 40K. My point is, what many of us didn’t receive in merit based scholarships, might be made up for in need-based aid/grants. Although I know this doesn’t apply to everyone, it applies to some. 
To note - 89% of admitted students were accepted ED.
ONLY 11% of the totally admitted was from RD?! That’s some serious competition. Then It’s very likely that stats for RD admitted students are higher than those of ED. Plus tougher competition to get any merit $$
the acceptance rate for ED 1 was 89%, ED 2 was probably lower. I have no idea what percentage they are of total admitted. according to the au admissions tumblr, 650 students applied ed 1, and since there was an 89% acceptance rate, that means around 580 kids are already filling out the 1,700 spots for the class of 2020. also, I applied ed 1, with decent stats (30 act, 1940 sat, 3.52 uw with good ec’s like nsda nationals qualifier and stuco president) and i got absolutely no merit or fa. it makes somewhat more sense that i didn’t get any merit at all if the awards have need tied in to them as well
@bkhosh99 - your stats are similar to my daughter’s who was accepted RD, and also received no merit or FA. We were not expecting any need based FA. Both your stats and my daughter’s stats look to be solidly in the mid range (50th percentile) of AU admitted students. You are both target students, but AU will reserve merit aid for those with higher stats.
Certainly learning a lot about this whole college admission/merit processes. There are academically better schools than AU which are more generous about merit $
@Guppie You are absolutely right. I got almost 50% aid at a very good (top 25) university – despite a very high EFC – but got nothing from AU.
A school will give merit aid, not tied to need, to students whose stats are on the higher end of the school’s spectrum to encourage those students to attend. However, if the student’s stats are way higher - and the students appear to be in line with an Ivy or other more prestigious institutions, the student may be waitlisted or rejected for yield protection. If you are a student whose grades and SATs fall within the mid-range for the school, this was a match school for you and you may or may not get merit aid depending on what you can provide the school (diversity, a major that is not that popular in the school, etc.). If your grades and SAT scores are mid-range for AU and you are interested in SIS, you have less of a chance of getting merit aid than a student who is a a science or econ major.
AU worked out for my daughter because of the merit aid she was given and we think the benefits were worth what we had to pay to have her attend. We were lucky we were able to cover her tuition when we combined her merit aid and Stafford loan. She has a full time job in her field and had lots of internships which helped her get that job. I think it was worth what we paid in tuition but it would definitely not be worth it if you need to take out $20,000 a year loans to make it happen. College is what you make of the experience.
@NewJerseyMom that makes a lot more sense. my scores are definitely mid range, but I’m going into SIS, so it makes sense that I didn’t get any merit aid. frankly, I’m just happy to be going to SIS. can’t go wrong with a top 10 IR school haha
Good stuff Jersey Mom. I do think it’s wrong for AU to waitlist or reject students with stats ( also demonstrated
lots of interest, ecs, great recos) that appear to be in line with an Ivy or other more prestigious institutions for yield protection. One wonders, is AU afraid to have higher academic standards overall? Class of 2020 AU stats: Average SAT: 1280, Average GPA: 3.76 (includes weighted AND unweighted GPAs), Average ACT 29. These aren’t bad stats but - To agree with Guppie’s point - There are academically better schools than AU which are more generous about merit $. On this discussion forum, I’ve seen lots of regular stat students complain here about the scholarships received and that unless they get more they won’t be going. Some have never even visited the school. So go figure on how AU is truly judging applications.
American is a private institution, they can pretty much do whatever they want. My son received a large scholarship to Seton Hall even though he hadn’t applied to Seton Hall and his grades were mediocre at best, 3.3 GPA. The only thing we could figure out was that we are from WA state and Seton Hall was trying to promote their School of Diplomacy as well as recruiting students from low attendance states. If we had been from New Jersey, it is doubtful he would have been offered the scholarship.
@livelifelove - “Afraid to have higher academic standards?” What does that mean?
It is a common practice for many private schools to deny admission to applicants who they believe will not attend the school. This is not a recent development. It also is neither right nor wrong. Acceptance decisions and merit offers are not random acts - they are purposefully made.
Private schools will use merit dollars to attract those students that they want, plain and simple. Many (most?) of the very high stats kids who grouse about not being accepted to a school where their stats are above the 75th percentile likely would not have attended the school had they been accepted.
Great point NESeattleMom. Good for your son. That’s awesome!
@Themclos IMO - I don’t think it’s right. Several students with high stats have made it clear AU was their choice and didn’t get in or are waitlisted. AU 2020 average ACT 29. You have individuals who have never visited AU getting in, yet demonstrating interest is apparently key to AU. There’s an article or blog out there written by a former admissions rep. The former rep gives insights into how some decisions are made. Some seem ridiculous but they are true and random.
Here’s an excerpt from a silly article ~ “Stanford University announced this week that it had once again received a record-setting number of applications and that its acceptance rate — which had dropped to a previously uncharted low of 5 percent last year — plummeted all the way to its inevitable conclusion of 0 percent.”
Kids are jumping through hoops for college admissions - do this, do that, not that, $$$ for summer service abroad, be in contact often with the admissions reps at the 10 schools you applied, $$$ for admissions guidance.