<p>Does a substantial increase in applications mean a college will give less merit aid? In other words is merit aid determined purely on a supply and demand basis. According to my DD's counselor merit aid varies greatly from year to year and from institution to institution. I was wondering the reason for this.</p>
<p>well if schools are offering merit in an effort to raise the academic performance of the student body, that could vary year to year, as the school gets better known and more apply with strong academic histories
An article in US News or a strong football record might prompt more applications and breaking coverage that is negative on CNN might make families shy away.
The reasons could be quirky sometimes</p>
<p>DS got the biggest merit aid NEU offers...$16,000 per year. Seems it is a big combination of factors, he applied and was accepted at some more "prestigious" schools, he had a high GPA and SAT in his chosen major-Criminal Justice, we are on the West Coast, etc...other schools that accepted him offered no merit and we don't qualify for need based aid...seems to me that merit is a bit of a lottery, if you get it great, but it is tough to try to manipulate it. It does vary from year to year and college to college and then within the major, etc etc. Lots of posts even comparing NEU merit aid and they are all over the place...no pattern or "cut off" with gpa/sat/ecs that is hard and fast</p>
<p>About 7-8 years ago, URochester promised a $10k scholarship for asmitted students who scored 1200 on the SAT. A few years later, the threshhold had risen to 1350. I don't know what it is now. So, as the quality of the applicant pool rises, the incentives for attending definitely change. Also colleges may be targeting different types of applicants at different times.</p>
<p>Merit Aid also known as tuition discount coupons are used to advance an insitution's (mostly private) own recruitment goals. The criteria may include academics, gender, race, zip code and major. So yes based on the demand (high applicants) in any one criteria may reduce the total # of coupons awarded in that criteria, but overall numbers (total # of coupons) generally remain same. It may fluctuate based on the prformance of their endowment.</p>
<p>I think you can also look at individual colleges inside the University.</p>
<p>If enginerring enrollment is falling for example you may see a bigger push to recruit these students even if overall the total number of students applying to the University as a whole has increased.</p>
<p>Flagship programs at a University often get special attention. At least so I was told at one school.</p>
<p>It would seem if you did intend to target schools for merit aid, based on last years figures, which frankly are the most accurate you have, you may be dissapointed. As someone said in the case of U Rochester the standards often rise and in many cases unbeknowns to the would be applicant. Was anybody really dissapointed (this Spring) with a merit offer given by a college with a generous reputation? If so what college, and how much more were you expecting? In other words how dissapointed were you and was the place your DD's or DS's intended first choice?</p>
<p>Take a look at </p>
<p><a href="http://www.maguireassoc.com/services/financial_aid.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.maguireassoc.com/services/financial_aid.html</a> </p>
<p>and the links elsewhere on that site for the story of how colleges are using targeted "merit aid" offers to increase their revenue.</p>