<p>My son was just accepted to two different colleges, but I didn't see any information in his acceptance letters about merit aid/scholarships. How can I find out about that information. Should it be on their website, would it be included in his letter if he were offered anything? I thought I may have to wait until we filled out the FAFSA, but I know of one other child who was accepted and offered a scholarship. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Every school is different. You can usually (not always) find this information on the website.</p>
<p>Many schools seem to have separate considerations for acceptance and merit. D was offered merit at one school with her acceptance, whilst she still has an application in for competitive merit at the same school but won’t hear until February whether she is a finalist or not. At another school, she is accepted but has not heard anything yet regarding merit. </p>
<p>If your S is a totally obvious candidate for merit (i.e. perfect) then he would more likely get offers with acceptance, as they don’t really need to debate about it. If he is like D (good candidate but mortal) then the school may put him in a pile with the other mortals and wait to see what shakes out and how much money is left once all the apps are in.</p>
<p>The one thing I wouldn’t do is try to make comparisons with his friends/classmates, especially if their apps are at different schools than his.</p>
<p>It depends on the college. Some send this information along with the acceptance. Others send it separately if your kid is getting something. You need to review the financial aid portion of the school website to see what it says about merit scholarships. At most schools they are considered and awarded regardless of whether the student is applying for need based aid, but there are some exceptions (a few schools do require students to do at least some of the need based components). Some colleges also have deadlines for the applications to be considered for merit aid (eg, Kenyon wants regular decision apps by 12/15 if you want to be considered for merit aid, even though the actual RD application date is later). At least one college on D2’s list asked in the common app supplement if she wanted to be considered for merit scholarhips (duh… does ANYONE check no on that?).</p>
<p>D1 got her merit aid info from one college separately via snail mail about a week after acceptance. D2 got merit aid info online at the same time she got her acceptance.</p>
<p>If there is a forum for the college(s) here on CC, you might check postings there (and post a question of your own) to see if others have heard anything about merit aid and how they heard it. Another option is to call the school financial aid office and ask how and when they notify about merit aid.</p>
<p>Just estimating but about half of the schools the kids applied to had their initial merit awards in their acceptance letters. The other half made mention of the merit awards to follow soon and game a week or so later in a separate mailing. We have since gotten invites for their competitive merit awards which are mostly on campus functions and are for awards from anywhere from a few thousand to full rides.</p>