Duke leads top-ten National Research Universities in Merit Based Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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@spayurpets‌ (re #18): Thank you; what an excellent, insightful and – principally – accurate post!

I’d debate with you regarding only one key point. You imply – the use of the term “blueprint,” for example – that a grand, all-encompassing, constantly adhered to “master strategic plan” resides in some subterranean vault under the Allen Building. Having been a member of several of Duke’s senior Boards and their Executive Committees, I can guarantee – and you obviously know this, too – that that’s simply inaccurate.

What is both critical and true, however, is several generations of very bright, very motivated, very perceptive, and very strategically-minded leaders – volunteer oversight/governance alumni, senior administrators, key faculty, major donors, and more – have made rather wise and farsighted decisions to guide Duke’s journey since the days of W. P. Few . . . and especially in the last approximately 45 years. Duke has made some mistakes, of course, but most of our decisions have been quite good, as substantiated by the rather incredible fact (which you highlight) that Duke University, which evolved from Trinity College less then a hundred years ago, and is now solidly included in the first-tier of National Research Universities. Terry Sanford, who may well have been both the visionary and the architect of Duke’s migration from (probably) the best Southern university to the ranks of America’s premier institutions, (as you know) introduced the term “outrageous ambitions” with regard to the University’s upward mobility and excellence in all arenas. Thankfully, it remains a hallmark of our planning and execution for the future.

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A “nit” regarding yield (not for you, spayurpets‌, but for others who may subsequently read this post): When a Robertson, an A. B. Duke, or a B. N. Duke (etc.) “full ride” merit-based scholarship is awarded to a potential Truman, Churchill, Goldwater, Rhodes, etc. scholar, in my opinion it does not consequentially alter yield and, therefore, it truly is not “yield gaming.” That’s because the aggregate number of these splendid merit scholarships is SO small – not to mention the even smaller number of potential Duke matriculants such awards might effect – that they probably do not alter any class’ final “yield rate” by even a single percent.

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You’re joking, right? Every university (every organization?) has a strategic plan for accomplishing its goals. You can debate whether or not @spayurpets‌ has described Duke’s plan accurately but there is absolutely some sort of “master strategic plan” decided upon by the highest levels of admin.

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It’s interesting that Duke is one of the only top-tier schools in the US to give merit aid, but I think it’s important to recognize that they offer substantially less need-based aid than the other schools the article mentions. Obviously Duke has a smaller endowment than Harvard or Yale, but it has a larger endowment than Caltech and several Ivy league schools (Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth).

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Well, that graph is a bit misleading. There is a substantial amount of overlap in the merit recipients and the need-based students, so really what we’re talking about is need-based aid that was replaced by merit aid. I bet that if you looked at the actual ability of Duke aid in total to meet the need-based requirements of the student body, it would be similar to other schools on the list. How do we know that? The article mentions 314 students received merit grants averaging $56,000. (they said that 314 was 4% of the class, when I think they meant 40%) But if I’m reading that right, you have to assume that among those 314 students, a substantial number of those students would have received need-based aid to replace the merit aid if they had not received the merit aid.

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@iwannabe_Brown‌: That’s so obvious it hardly need to be articulated. The point I was making (in response to post #18) was – and is – that a single plan had not endured unaltered for generations. Rather, the strategic plan #1, led to #2, and so forth. At Duke, generally every decade a major reissue, sanctioned by the Trustees, provides general direction to all subordinate Duke entities, who then develop their own plans, consistent with the University’s aggregate guidance.

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@Qwerty568‌: Endowment capital overwhelmingly is “restricted” and can be used ONLY for the specific purpose(s) established by the donor(s) and the university, sometimes centuries ago and almost always in a written agreement. Just because an institution has a large endowment (Duke’s is currently valued at somewhat more than $7B) does NOT mean the University can use it for any purpose(s) it considers worthwhile. It is a common misconception that endowed capital can be expended in way(s) an institution’s current leadership believes is appropriate – however, that is plainly untrue and often would violate binding contractual strictures.

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@bluedog, interesting about the Caltech FAQ, because if you look at their CDS, Caltech had offered 2 big merit scholarships (full-tuition or full-ride) each year in recent years.

They may have stopped.

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Looks like Caltech got rid of them (for new freshman) in 2009 based on what I can find…So, looks like 2012-2013 might be the last year seniors got them.

“In order to strengthen our need-based financial aid program even further, we will be redirecting our freshman merit-based scholarship programs to our need-based financial aid program, effective with the class that will enter in September 2009. Caltech will continue to support the Upper Class Merit Scholarship program for rising sophomores, juniors and seniors to recognize exceptional performance in coursework and research.”

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@spayurpets, I believe the 4% student merit grants number cited by the article is correct. It states Duke grants 314 students per year these scholarships, meaning all classes, not just the incoming class. Of the 6646 undergrads, that works out to 4 or 5%.

The end result is Duke is attracting many more of those high caliber students who can’t afford full pay, yet don’t qualify for much or any financial aid, and therefore won’t apply to an Ivy/Caltech/MIT.

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@NJProParent‌: "The end result is Duke is attracting many more of those high caliber students who can’t afford full pay, yet don’t qualify for much or any financial aid, and therefore won’t apply to an Ivy/Caltech/MIT.’

From my perspective, that’s fundamentally a good thing (although, I am not sure I’d agree with your “many more” characterization, given the size (~1750) of each Duke undergraduate class and the number of “distinguished” full-ride merit scholarships). I am sure we all agree that extensive need-based grants are imperative: societal upward mobility and individual equity, among other important values. However, to not reward ANY individuals who have demonstrated both incredible potential and magnificent secondary school achievements – but who are financially secure – seems shortsighted and unfair to me. We need to have a balance between need- and merit-awards; in my opinion, having ALL scholarship funding in either category is unwise.

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@NJProParent‌

I was curious because this number seems low, and if true would seem to support the view that Duke provides less financial aid in total than its peer schools because adding up need-based aid recipients and these merit awards would not equal the amount of total financial aid recipients of say, Yale or Penn. (If we take the newspaper graphic as accurate). I admit, my initial 40% view sounds implausibly high. From some cursuory research on the web, some data aggregation sites seem to suggest that Duke actually provides 300ish merit awards per incoming class which is more like 20% per class and pushes Duke close to the top of the ranks of providing total financial aid. Does anyone know which it is?

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Thanks @Toptier. I thought the only real chance of merit scholarships was with large state schools with good honors colleges. It’s good to know at least one top college values academics enough to reward some of the best scholars with merit aid.

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Here is a 2013 list of the top 30 private schools by endowment by student ($,000).

Princeton 2,272
Yale 1,700
Harvard 1,540
Stanford 1,177
Swarthmore 1,058
Amherst 1,022
MIT 974
Williams 973
Grinnell 918
Wellesley 703
Washington & Lee 611
Dartmouth 608
Smith 576
Bowdoin 565
Claremont McKenna 470
U of Richmond 464
Univ. of Chicago 446
Duke 414
Emory 401
Washington U in St. L. 400
Middlebury 390
Hamilton 381
Haverford 365
Vassar 362
Colby 356
Carleton 344
Macalaster 343
Reed 330
U Penn 314
Brown 313

Of the above, only a few give out merit aid.

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@TopTier, I should have said the policy is “attracting more applications” from high caliber students. For many of those, the award of merit scholarships would surely translate into a decision to attend. The policy of schools to not offer merit will cause a percentage of those students to not apply at all, or will end up declining the school even if they are accepted.

I absolutely agree that “[w]e need to have a balance between need- and merit-awards; in my opinion, having ALL scholarship funding in either category is unwise.”

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I’m thinking the 4% doesn’t include athletic scholarships, but I could be wrong. 314 just sounds way too low if it includes both academic and athletic merit aid; I mean Duke gives out 85 full scholarships for ONE sport alone! (Football). Given that nearly 10% of Duke students are varsity athletes (although many are on partial or no scholarships), that could definitely change the numbers. I also think this is the case because Stanford – the only other top 10 school offering athletic scholarships – is the second lowest school on that graph and they have second-to-none financial aid. Stanford and Duke are probably skewed downward due to the number of athletes on scholarships that subsequently do not qualify for or need financial based aid since they’re already receiving aid.

Edit: No way it’s 300/class. I’m thinking is 314 academic merit scholarships total, meaning ~80/class, EXCLUDING athletic and outside scholarships.

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Ah yes, I forgot about athletic scholarships as well. That might well play into why Duke seems to have less in financial aid. If you suppose that Athletic scholarships are another 10% of students (high? low?), then Duke would be right in the mix of other schools in FA recipients at 52-53% of a class.

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That article is so misleading or am I reading it wrong? MIT and Stanford say they give zero merit aid on their websites so what “common data set” or whatever did the author of this article get his data then?

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For the record, the Seven Sisters colleges are also heavily endowed and do give out merit based aid. Duke overall generally gives much less aid overall than the ivies.

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^ ^ ^ ^
Please provide an authoritative reference to substantiate your claim that “Duke overall generally gives much less aid than the Ivies,” remembering aid includes the sum of all categories – merit-based, plus athletic, plus need-based – and to be fair must be evaluated on a “per undergraduate” basis.

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@ricck1 Regarding the Seven Sisters, I can’t comment on the others, but Wellesley does not offer any merit aid. Please be cautious using the phrase, “for the record” unless you actually have some concrete information to share.