How much merit aid to expect?

Paying for College
1

<p>How much merit aid should I expect? </p>

<p>I'm 4.0/4.0 out of a strong high school (550/class)
National Honor Society
4 year varsity letter winner
(and am being recruited by the coaches where I've applied)
Strong spanish speaker with extended stays in spanish speaking nations.
Yada, yada, yada.</p>

<p>I'm interested in small, liberal arts schools.
In particular, Earlham, Macalester, Grinnell, Carlton, St. Olaf., Swarthmore, Haverford, etc.</p>

<p>What are these schools or similar ones awarding in merit aid? How does one maximize the amount?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>First kid in the family to go to college.....</p>

2

<p>Expect around $7,000 from Earlham, as I believe that is their top merit scholarship.
A friend of mine who attends St. Olaf said half tuition was the largest merit scholarship they gave out, but I have no personal knowledge of this.
Grinnell is known for giving good merit aid, although here again, I have no personal knowledge.
Swarthmore and Haverford do not give merit aid, and I am not sure about Carleton.
I have no idea about merit aid at Mac, as I have heard some very happy people and some dissatisfied with thier award.</p>

<p>PS. Great choices. :) I applied to all of those places except St. Olaf. Mabey we will meet each other someday.</p>

3

<p>My D got great scholarship/ half tuition/ from Macalester because she was one out of 3 females applying for math/physics major.
Generally look for schools where your stats place you in the top of their applicant pool, check out usual awards given by school, their endowment, read school strategic plan and see if you can offer something this school is looking for/ lets say diversity, first generation students etc.</p>

4

<p>Did your D commit to a major as an incoming first year?<br>
By what mechanism did she make this preference known?</p>

5

<p>So much depends on who else is applying in your field & what the school is looking for in the year you're applying. A friend's daughter got a great merit aid offer for Grinnell but ended up going to a top U in Canada because even with a much smaller scholarship, it ended up much cheaper (even tho the exchange rate has worsened). She's very happy there, tho she did love Grinnell as well.</p>

<p>We had thought my son would get offered to go to Grinnell's summer program last summer but he wasn't. Thereafter he decided he really isn't interested in such a rural experience, so he's declined to apply there. It does sound like a wonderful campus & community tho.</p>