Financial Aid: Need vs. Merit

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>I just wanted to know how WashU considered this when mailing out the packages. </p>

<p>I know that financial need will get you money, but what about merit? Does merit alone give you a lot of money? If so, what kind of "merit" are we talking about here? And is need and merit totally separate? As in, if you are low income and have average qualifications, will you get the same amount of money as another low income with higher qualifications? And what about those with high income and high qualifications? How does that work?</p>

2

<p>I think all the merit scholarships had been announced already (or at least the finalists had been notified)</p>

3

<p>Merit aid and need based aid are considered under separate catagories at WashU. Merit scholarships require a separate application and the deadline for next year has passed. Finalist interviews are being held during the next 2 weekends. WashU often combines merit only awards with need based aid. The end result can be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to partial tuition to full tuition to a full ride. It all depends on the applicant.</p>

<p>Need based aid has 2 clasifications. Some of it is a combo of need/merit and some of it is need only. It consists of the following - scholarships / grants / work study / loans. You should contact the financial aid office for details concerning need based aid.</p>

4

<p>
[QUOTE]
Need based aid has 2 clasifications. Some of it is a combo of need/merit and some of it is need only. It consists of the following - scholarships / grants / work study / loans. You should contact the financial aid office for details concerning need based aid.

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<p>I'm going to emphasize that you can still get a "merit" scholarship such as a WashU named scholarship but it might be based on need and not like the scholarships like Mylonas, Ervin, Danforth, etc.</p>

5

<p>balancedhelium, what named scholarships are you talking aabout? I didn't know there were merit scholarships based on need.</p>

6

<p>Elliot is a combo need/merit - although weighted more towards need.</p>

7

<p>So is Rodriguez, all the Rodriguez scholars I know are on fin aid.</p>

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<p>
[QUOTE]
balancedhelium, what named scholarships are you talking aabout? I didn't know there were merit scholarships based on need.

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<p>These aren't the separate ones that you have to actually apply for. You are automatically considered as part of your application. A better word would probably have been a grant but they are called a scholarship in the financial aid letter.</p>

9

<p>Trapper- then you obviously don't know a lot of Rodriguez scholars. That is not the case with most of the ones that I know. The Rodriguez is a merit based scholarship that has to be applied for with a separate application. It has nothing to do with need. If you have any questions, check out Rodriguez facts on the WashU web site. <a href="http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_Scholarships_scholarship_Rodriguez.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_Scholarships_scholarship_Rodriguez.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>ST2 do you know any particular Rodriguez scholar that didn't apply for financial aid?</p>

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<p>Yes I know some.</p>

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<p>How many Rodriguez scholars are? My kids didn't apply to those scholarships because we couldn't get the same information every time we called; they just applied for the academic scholarships from their schools and they got them (the number was written and the rules were clear).</p>

13

<p>Congratulations on your kids achievement. The number of Rodriguez scholars varies from year to year. Most years it runs between 25 to 40 new scholars in the entering freshman class. A nice addition to the Rodriguez is the $2,500 annaual stipend in addition to either full or partial tuition. The Rodriguez (along with the Danforth and Ervin) can be combined with other scholarships or with each other. My feeling with any of the scholarships offered by WashU is that the more you apply, the better chance you have.</p>