Hi all! I’m re-opening this thread with an update, having just completed another admission cycle for S23. He had the same budget, also had very high stats (class val, 3.99 UW/4.7W, 1530 SAT, great ECs), and applied to some of the same schools as D21.
Here’s what I’ve seen happen in just two years: merit aid continues to decrease at the upper tier schools (the T20ish to T50ish LACs) as the more selective schools continue their pivot away from merit and instead toward more need-based aid.
(And while this thread is about LACs, the same applies to top state flagship publics as well, which have gotten more and more competitive and so don’t need to give out as much merit to attract top students. Auto-merit scholarships seem to get less and less generous each year at just about every school I know of other than Alabama.)
OTOH, the lower ranked LACs are increasingly desperate for students as the ‘demographic cliff’ looms and are still playing the merit game in a big way. I’d recommend looking pretty closely at any these schools’ financial health and enrollment trends before committing, though, especially if they’re a small (less than 2K enrollment) LAC. Many of the smaller, lower-ranked schools are cutting and/or merging departments and majors as their #s shrink, and pretty soon many of them will no longer be financially viable.
So, for anyone looking for merit $ for the class of 2024 and beyond, know that any posts more than a few years old are really outdated and probably no longer applicable. Same with the Common Data Sets. They are still useful, but I recommend looking no further back than about 2021-22ish and even then proceed with caution. Look instead to the school websites, which should have the most updated info, and don’t be shy about asking AOs directly.
Having said all that, there is still plenty of merit out there at great schools. Just be prepared to cast a wide net and work really hard looking for it.
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