<p>In checking the facts, I was wrong in saying that “a majority” of private college students get merit aid. However, a sizeable minority at many private colleges do get merit aid. Colleges have found that students are more likely to accept admission offers if they get merit aid, even if that merit aid is money that otherwise they would have been given via need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>"Albright College, in Reading, Pa., had been splitting its financial aid budget evenly between need-based aid and merit aid. But this year, it will tip the balance toward merit, with 60 percent. The college used to send offers of merit aid shortly after it mailed acceptance letters; this year, it sent them together in hopes of winning students over early.</p>
<p>Many colleges discount tuition an average of 30 to 40 percent. Still, by offering even a relatively small cut, colleges get students who pay a hefty price.</p>
<p>“The full-pays are few and far between,” said Greg Eichhorn, the vice president for enrollment management at Albright. “What we’re looking for are better-pays.”</p>
<p>Some schools have tried to reduce their merit-aid budgets over the last several years, arguing that an emphasis on need-based aid was more philosophically in line with their goals of getting a more diverse student body. But economic pressures may delay those aims.</p>
<p>At Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pa., for example, merit aid, at its highest, made up about 22 percent of the financial-assistance pie. The share declined to 6 percent two years ago, but crept up to 7 percent last year and will increase to 8 percent for next year’s entering class.</p>
<p>“The families I’m concerned about are the near-misses — the $90,000 to $130,000 families, who almost qualify for aid but not quite,” said Robert J. Massa, the college’s vice president for enrollment. “Those are the families I want to target more merit-based aid to.”…"</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/education/28college.html?em=&pagewanted=all[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/education/28college.html?em=&pagewanted=all</a></p>
<p>This article indicates that public universities discount by having programs like Georgie’s HOPE scholarship, that provides merit-based aid to top in-state students regardless of their financial need.</p>
<p>This year, however, due to the economy, public universities may have to worry about having too high a yield as families turn to lower cost options than private colleges.</p>
<p>"Private institutions discount far more than public ones, but the publics are catching on; about a dozen state universities, especially in the South, are replicating Georgia’s Hope Scholarships, which subsidize students with high grades – even if their families can afford to pay full freight. Dr. Lapovsky was dismayed when she gave a recent seminar on tuition discounting and half the 150 people who signed up were from public universities. As universities reduce services and raise tuition in response to state budget cuts, she says, public institutions see discounts as a way to continue to attract top students.</p>
<p>Some colleges argue that aggressive discounting has allowed them to build more prestigious and, ultimately, better institutions. George Washington University, for example, spends about $100 million a year on merit and need-based scholarships. Stephen J. Trachtenberg, its president, credits merit aid with attracting more National Merit Scholars and improving its yield – that is, the percentage of students who accept offers of admission. Both helped the university rise from unranked to 51st in U.S. News rankings…"</p>
<p>[What</a> a Deal! - The New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/education/what-a-deal.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all]What”>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/education/what-a-deal.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all)</p>