Merit Aid Percentage from Common Data Set

<p>Wow, Northeastern is very high. S doesn’t have any NE schools on his list and we are from NE, wonder if that merits a look?</p>

<p>Idinct, Northeastern’s percentage is very high and the average is a nice chunk of change (approx 13K) but the total cost for room/board/tuition is over 50K per year. </p>

<p>Having said that, I just dropped my son off in Boston to begin his college career at Northeastern! We were very lucky that he was offered a merit aid package that made NEU affordable for us. It’s certainly worth the time to take a look at it.</p>

<p>I’ve updated the list, adding University of South Carolina, Willamette, Kenyon, Lewis and Clark, and Emory! Thanks to all who contributed. I also added the relevant states, mostly from memory. If I made a mistake, please feel free to let me know, and I’ll be glad to fix it. I agree with a previous poster that knowing the cost of attendance can be helpful information. I’ve added it if I know it, and will be glad to update the chart if others contribute what they know. See notes at the bottom for details.</p>

<p>Legend:
School… non-need kids with awards %; $ average non-need award / total COA 2011/2012–OOS if it applies </p>

<p>(# non-need awards / # non-need freshman)</p>

<p>American (DC)…36%; $16,086 (367/1027)
Brandeis (MA)…………25%; $17,940 (128/513)
Brown (RI)…0%; $0 (0/863)
Bucknell ¶…6%; $11,126 (30/465)
Carleton (MN)…12%; $2,990 (33/265)
Case Western (OH)…………71%; $20,329 (189/265)
Colorado College (CO)…7%; $10,961 (26/391)
Dartmouth (NH)…1%; $450 (4/562)
Davidson (NC)…21%;$19,079/$49,029 (57/269)
Delaware (DE)…28%; $6,073 (654/2342)
Dickinson ¶…9%; $10,571 (31/331)
Duke (NC)…3%; $36,009 (30/1025)
Elon (NC)…34%; $5,670 (282/835)
Emory (GA)……22%; $13,094 (217/995)
Franklin and Marshall ¶….39%; $12,844 (129/335)
Fairfield (CT)…11%; $18,232 (43/401)
Fordham (NY)…47%; $9,259 (489/1032)
Furman (SC)…50%;$16,230/$49,660 (154/307)
Gettysburg ¶…30%; $10,665 (103/346)
Goucher (MD)…40%; $13,951 (117/294)
Grinnell (IA) …46%; $9,269 (50/108)
GW (DC)…27%; $22,632 (441/1624)
JHU (MD)…2%; $27,471 (14/621)
Kenyon (OH)…17%; $10,403 (45/258)
Lafayette ¶…24%; $12,894 (56/229)
Lewis and Clark (OR)…26%; $11,010 (56/214)
Manhattan (NY)………………48%; $8,443 (226/466)
Maryland (MD)…30%; $5,441 (695/2298)
Muhlenberg ¶…41%; $10,585 (171/418)
Northeastern (MA)……………72%; $13,970 (876/1224)
NYU (NY)…9%; $7,250 (327/3456)
Pitt ¶…18%; $14,678 (279/1583)
Princeton (NJ)…0%; $0/$52,180 (0/559)
Rhodes (TN)…75%; $13,060/$44,080 (200/265)
Rice (TX)…35%; $15,912 (176/508)
Richmond (VA)…11%; $29,539 (61/571)
Rochester (NY)…73%; $9,620 (388/529)
RPI (NY)…94%; $14,085 (436/464)
Sewanee-U of S (TN)……………53%; $13,735 (117/220)
Smith (MA)…13%; $8,973 (35/272)
St. Joseph ¶…28%; $9,885 (13/46)
Syracuse (NY)…27%; $9,440 (390/688)
TCNJ (NJ)…47%; $6,386 (320/688)
UCONN (CT)…22%; $6,866 (322/1448)
UNC-CH (NC)…31%;$4,646 (820/2634)
Ursinus ¶…36%; $12,381 (60/169)
USC (CA)………30%; $13,757 (706/2381)
U South Carolina (SC) …………84%; $6160 (1884/2237)

  • UVA (VA) …15%; $7,403/$44,322 OOS (411/2658)
    Vandy (TN)…23%; $12,879 (223/982)
    Villanova ¶…10%; $8,972 (96/991)
    Wake Forest (NC)……………8%; $12,427/$51,910 (66/815)
    Washington College (MD)……49%; $12,211 (94/190)
    WashUSL (MO)…25%; $9,460 (242/969)
    Willamette (OR)…87%; $11,727 (585/676)
    William & Mary (VA)……………3%; $7,396 (32/993)
    WPI (MA)…87%; $12,288 (158/181)</p>

<ul>
<li>Will not offer merit aid in the future</li>
</ul>

<p>Notes on cost of attendance: COA includes tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies. If no figure was given on the website for books and supplies, I estimated $2,000. I’ve found that college estimates for books and supplies vary widely. These COA numbers do not include personal expenses, transportation costs or health insurance costs. The COA number I’m using is the most recent available, sometimes for 2011/2012, even though all the other numbers are based on earlier Common Data Sets. However, once the new CDSs (for the classes entering Fall 2010) are available, we can update this information.</p>

<p>I updated Willamette University’s information and added the COA.</p>

<p>Legend:
School… non-need kids with awards %; $ average non-need award / total COA 2011/2012–OOS if it applies</p>

<p>(# non-need awards / # non-need freshman)</p>

<p>American (DC)…36%; $16,086 (367/1027)
Brandeis (MA)…………25%; $17,940 (128/513)
Brown (RI)…0%; $0 (0/863)
Bucknell ¶…6%; $11,126 (30/465)
Carleton (MN)…12%; $2,990 (33/265)
Case Western (OH)…………71%; $20,329 (189/265)
Colorado College (CO)…7%; $10,961 (26/391)
Dartmouth (NH)…1%; $450 (4/562)
Davidson (NC)…21%;$19,079/$49,029 (57/269)
Delaware (DE)…28%; $6,073 (654/2342)
Dickinson ¶…9%; $10,571 (31/331)
Duke (NC)…3%; $36,009 (30/1025)
Elon (NC)…34%; $5,670 (282/835)
Emory (GA)……22%; $13,094 (217/995)
Franklin and Marshall ¶….39%; $12,844 (129/335)
Fairfield (CT)…11%; $18,232 (43/401)
Fordham (NY)…47%; $9,259 (489/1032)
Furman (SC)…50%;$16,230/$49,660 (154/307)
Gettysburg ¶…30%; $10,665 (103/346)
Goucher (MD)…40%; $13,951 (117/294)
Grinnell (IA) …46%; $9,269 (50/108)
GW (DC)…27%; $22,632 (441/1624)
JHU (MD)…2%; $27,471 (14/621)
Kenyon (OH)…17%; $10,403 (45/258)
Lafayette ¶…24%; $12,894 (56/229)
Lewis and Clark (OR)…26%; $11,010 (56/214)
Manhattan (NY)………………48%; $8,443 (226/466)
Maryland (MD)…30%; $5,441 (695/2298)
Muhlenberg ¶…41%; $10,585 (171/418)
Northeastern (MA)……………72%; $13,970 (876/1224)
NYU (NY)…9%; $7,250 (327/3456)
Pitt ¶…18%; $14,678 (279/1583)
Princeton (NJ)…0%; $0/$52,180 (0/559)
Rhodes (TN)…75%; $13,060/$44,080 (200/265)
Rice (TX)…35%; $15,912 (176/508)
Richmond (VA)…11%; $29,539 (61/571)
Rochester (NY)…73%; $9,620 (388/529)
RPI (NY)…94%; $14,085 (436/464)
Sewanee-U of S (TN)……………53%; $13,735 (117/220)
Smith (MA)…13%; $8,973 (35/272)
St. Joseph ¶…28%; $9,885 (13/46)
Syracuse (NY)…27%; $9,440 (390/688)
TCNJ (NJ)…47%; $6,386 (320/688)
UCONN (CT)…22%; $6,866 (322/1448)
UNC-CH (NC)…31%;$4,646 (820/2634)
Ursinus ¶…36%; $12,381 (60/169)
USC (CA)………30%; $13,757 (706/2381)
U South Carolina (SC) …………84%; $6160 (1884/2237)

  • UVA (VA) …15%; $7,403/$44,322 OOS (411/2658)
    Vandy (TN)…23%; $12,879 (223/982)
    Villanova ¶…10%; $8,972 (96/991)
    Wake Forest (NC)……………8%; $12,427/$51,910 (66/815)
    Washington College (MD)……49%; $12,211 (94/190)
    WashUSL (MO)…25%; $9,460 (242/969)
    Willamette (OR)…87%; $13,072/$47,301 (585/676)
    William & Mary (VA)……………3%; $7,396 (32/993)
    WPI (MA)…87%; $12,288 (158/181)</p>

<ul>
<li>Will not offer merit aid in the future</li>
</ul>

<p>Notes on cost of attendance: COA includes tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies. If no figure was given on the website for books and supplies, I estimated $2,000. I’ve found that college estimates for books and supplies vary widely. These COA numbers do not include personal expenses, transportation costs or health insurance costs. The COA number I’m using is the most recent available, sometimes for 2011/2012, even though all the other numbers are based on earlier Common Data Sets. However, once the new CDSs (for the classes entering Fall 2010) are available, we can update this information.
Schokolade is offline</p>

<p>Does anyone know what Southern Methodist University’s merit % was?</p>

<p>We are ineligible for need based aid, and S1 is off to college this Fall. He applied to Rochester (only school he applied to which would offer merit aid), and they said a FAFSA would not have to be filed. He received a very nice package, although he eventually chose a school where we are paying full cost!</p>

<p>Does anyone know whether a FAFSA has to be filed for getting merit aid at any of these other schools mentioned? We have S2 who is a HS Junior, so we are doing the college search without a break!</p>

<p>@SSSmomof3 “Does anyone know whether a FAFSA has to be filed for getting merit aid at any of these other schools mentioned? We have S2 who is a HS Junior, so we are doing the college search without a break”</p>

<p>I cannot speak for the others, but since our EFC hits the roof, we didn’t submit FAFSA for neither of my sons, they still got (actually above the average) from the list from Rice, Case Western, RPI, Vanderbilt, Rose Hulman, Northwestern and Northeastern. Older son did end up attending a different school not from this list but gotten full ride. Younger son will likely attend almost full-pay (w/ room/board ~30K) state flagship (better ranking). We saved a few thousands due to NMF and leadership scholarship. </p>

<p>In most case, I believe merit scholarships are considered automatically; in a few cases, they might ask you for an additional essay, but no FAFSA.</p>

<p>SSMomof3, I believe that Brandeis requires the FAFSA. I know that last year GW, Rochester and Pitt did not require the FAFSA for merit aid. BUT I wouldn’t rely on last year’s information for next year’s applicant. If you can’t find the answer on the website, call or email the school to confirm.</p>

<p>Hobart and William Smith Colleges</p>

<p>24%/$15,029/$51,050 (116/478)</p>

<p>Brandeis requires the CSS Profile, not the FAFSA, and has done away with almost all of the merit scholarships that are available to students who do not also qualify for need-based aid.</p>

<p>Also, another caveat to note regarding the data from the Common Data Sets:
The denominator for those calculations is the number of enrolled students.
The percent of enrolled students receiving merit aid is very different from the percent of applicants, or even admitted applicants, receiving merit aid. Obviously, the purpose of merit aid is to entice the admitted applicants to matriculate, and to the extent that it’s effective, there will be a higher proportion of merit aid awardees in the enrolled class than in the overall applicant or admittee population. I think I read somewhere that, for example, American gives merit aid to about the top 20% of applicants, but the CDS suggests that as many as 40% of non-need enrollees had a merit award two years ago.</p>

<p>To clarify the UVa information above, there are still some highly competitive full merit scholarships available for incoming first years - Jefferson Scholars. Therefore, merit aid has not been eliminated. </p>

<p>However, the vast majority of UVa aid is need based. It is called the AccessUVa program. They are one of the few public universities that is committed to meeting 100% of the proven need of US citizens who are out of state residents. Some students are also given additional aid in their 4th year if they have reached a cap on federally subsidized student loans.</p>

<p>Also, Sewannee recently announced they will be cutting back on merit aid, and instead try to keep their tuition moderate for everyone. They felt they were getting into tuition discounting wars with other colleges.</p>

<p>Charlieschm–Jefferson Scholarships are offered by the Jefferson Foundation, not by UVa. As a result, the scholarship amounts attributable to Jefferson Scholarships would not be included in UVa’s common data set or any other official list of merit scholarships. Including scholarships on this list that are available from sources other than the college itself would be too difficult. The University of Virginia does not give merit aid. </p>

<p>At the Days on the Lawn for Echols Scholars, one of the speakers said there had been talk about the possibility of offering merit aid to Echols Scholars–but that is not going to happen next year, if ever.</p>

<p>American has decreased the dollar amount of their awards this year across the board. For more updated info, I would contact schools directly and read current threads from this year.</p>

<p>Agree with previous poster about Brandeis. They have changed their policy and are offering only need based aid.</p>

<p>D applied to both schools 4 years ago. She rec’d $15K a year from Brandeis and $20K a year from American. If applying this year she would have rec’d zero from Brandeis and between $10K/year and $15K/year from American.</p>

<p>That’s disappointing considering D2 is applying to college in the fall. I have to realistically change my expectations.</p>

<p>Legend:
School… non-need kids with awards %; $ average non-need award / total COA 2011/2012–OOS if it applies (# non-need awards / # non-need freshman)</p>

<p>American (DC)…36%; $16,086 (367/1027)
Brandeis (MA)…………25%; $17,940 (128/513)
Brown (RI)…0%; $0 (0/863)
Bucknell ¶…6%; $11,126 (30/465)
Carleton (MN)…12%; $2,990 (33/265)
Case Western (OH)…………71%; $20,329 (189/265)
Colorado College (CO)…7%; $10,961 (26/391)
Covenant College (GA) …64%; $10,307/$35,676 (61/95)
Dartmouth (NH)…1%; $450 (4/562)
Davidson (NC)…21%;$19,079/$49,029 (57/269)
Delaware (DE)…28%; $6,073 (654/2342)
Dickinson ¶…9%; $10,571 (31/331)
Duke (NC)…3%; $36,009 (30/1025)
Elon (NC)…34%; $5,670 (282/835)
Emory (GA)……22%; $13,094 (217/995)
Franklin and Marshall ¶….39%; $12,844 (129/335)
Fairfield (CT)…11%; $18,232 (43/401)
Fordham (NY)…47%; $9,259 (489/1032)
Furman (SC)…50%;$16,230/$49,660 (154/307)
Gettysburg ¶…30%; $10,665 (103/346)
Goucher (MD)…40%; $13,951 (117/294)
Grinnell (IA) …46%; $9,269 (50/108)
GW (DC)…27%; $22,632 (441/1624)
Hobart and William Smith …24%/$15,029/$51,050 (116/478)
JHU (MD)…2%; $27,471 (14/621)
Kenyon (OH)…17%; $10,403 (45/258)
Lafayette ¶…24%; $12,894 (56/229)
Lewis and Clark (OR)…26%; $11,010 (56/214)
Manhattan (NY)………………48%; $8,443 (226/466)
Maryland (MD)…30%; $5,441 (695/2298)
Muhlenberg ¶…41%; $10,585 (171/418)
Northeastern (MA)……………72%; $13,970 (876/1224)
NYU (NY)…9%; $7,250 (327/3456)
Pitt ¶…18%; $14,678 (279/1583)
Princeton (NJ)…0%; $0/$52,180 (0/559)
Rhodes (TN)…75%; $13,060/$44,080 (200/265)
Rice (TX)…35%; $15,912 (176/508)
Richmond (VA)…11%; $29,539 (61/571)
Rochester (NY)…73%; $9,620 (388/529)
RPI (NY)…94%; $14,085 (436/464)
Sewanee-U of S (TN)……………53%; $13,735 (117/220)
Smith (MA)…13%; $8,973 (35/272)
St. Joseph ¶…28%; $9,885 (13/46)
Syracuse (NY)…27%; $9,440 (390/688)
TCNJ (NJ)…47%; $6,386 (320/688)
UCONN (CT)…22%; $6,866 (322/1448)
UNC-CH (NC)…31%;$4,646 (820/2634)
Ursinus ¶…36%; $12,381 (60/169)
USC (CA)………30%; $13,757 (706/2381)
U South Carolina (SC) …………84%; $6160 (1884/2237)

  • UVA (VA) …15%; $7,403/$44,322 OOS (411/2658)
    Vandy (TN)…23%; $12,879 (223/982)
    Villanova ¶…10%; $8,972 (96/991)
    Wake Forest (NC)……………8%; $12,427/$51,910 (66/815)
    Washington College (MD)……49%; $12,211 (94/190)
    WashUSL (MO)…25%; $9,460 (242/969)
    Wheaton (IL) …31%; $4,940/$37,996 (86/279)
    Willamette (OR)…87%; $13,072/$47,301 (585/676)
    William & Mary (VA)……………3%; $7,396 (32/993)
    WPI (MA)…87%; $12,288 (158/181)</p>

<ul>
<li>Will not offer merit aid in the future</li>
</ul>

<p>Notes on cost of attendance: COA includes tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies. If no figure was given on the website for books and supplies, I estimated $2,000. I’ve found that college estimates for books and supplies vary widely. These COA numbers do not include personal expenses, transportation costs or health insurance costs. The COA number I’m using is the most recent available, sometimes for 2011/2012, even though all the other numbers are based on earlier Common Data Sets.</p>

<p>^^^ Franklin & Marshall no longer gives any merit aid except for one small music scholarship offered to one student each year ($2500 I believe). We were there this year and asked a financial aid rep. That’s exactly what she told us. We cut them from our list without applying.</p>

<p>Also, shouldn’t Baylor and Alabama be on your list? Middle son already has merit aid offers from both (and Pitt, but Pitt is already on there). Or do they not report to the Common Data Set?</p>

<p>Thanks for the info. I’ll add that next time I update it (or anyone else is welcome to do so, of course). </p>

<p>This list was started by someone else and updated by others, including by me because I found it very useful. A comprehensive list should indeed include Baylor and Alabama. Baylor’s website allows students to compute in advance the expected amount of merit aid, and Alabama is generous to National Merit Scholars and other top scorers. I haven’t looked up their Common Data Sets because neither of my children were seriously considering them. I’ll be glad to update the entire list if anyone wishes to provide the information!</p>

<p>Based upon posts on CC, it appears that almost all merit aid from U. Pitt is given to out of state students, to make up for the higher out of state tuition.</p>

<p>I think a number of private colleges in reality end up mixing need and merit aid. Some colleges consider need in awarding their best merit scholarships. If they have a highly qualified student of modest income, and that student is eligible for substantial need aid from the college, they would rather call it a merit scholarship to make it more attractive to the student. At the same time, they don’t want to waste their best merit scholarships on a student who could afford to pay full price.</p>

<p>I asked this on another thread, but maybe this is the right place to ask…</p>

<p>n) Number of students in line a who had no financial need and who were awarded institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid (exclude those who were awarded athletic awards and tuition benefits) - 1,376</p>

<p>o) Average dollar amount of institutional non-need-based scholarship and grant aid awarded to students in line n - $7,562</p>

<p>(the above is from UAlabama…which we know gives big merit to OOS kids with high stats).</p>

<p>Dumb question…since “n” is asking about students who don’t have need…does that mean that students with need who were awarded “merit only” aid are not included here? Many kids (especially at publics and OOS publics) can really only get merit aid even with need…so are they not included? Or does this stat just mean that “need” wasn’t considered in the award even if the student had some need???</p>

<p>I would also add that in regards to the lists in the above threads…looking at OOS publics really doesn’t give you a feel for what awards might be. OOS students often get bigger awards then instate students do.</p>

<p>got the answer from Erin’s dad…those with need who got merit are listed in G…and for Bama that was 1001 for frosh. Adding that to the others w/o need comes to a total of 2377 frosh with merit awards.</p>

<p>Thanks Erins dad.</p>