<p>I know on the website and on most places you look NU clearly states that they do not offer merit-based aid, but is this completely true? I don't remember where I think it was on princeton review or something but it stated that they offered merit aid. Does anyone know for sure because all of these websites have gotten me pretty confused. Thanks</p>
<p>No, NU does not offer merit aid. How could it? (Most) everybody's brilliant in their own way.</p>
<p>No offense, but that's a pretty invalid assertion, neom. Rice offers merit scholarships. Even Caltech offers merit scholarships... But I'lll give credit to Northwestern... it does have very good financial aid.</p>
<p>Treekid makes a good point. Even among top colleges, some give merit aid (Rice, Duke, WashU), some do not (NU, Stanford, most if not all Ivies)...NU does offer recognition to National Merit with awards, but not the kind of big merit money other colleges might have. On the other hand, full need-based aid isn't a bad thing!</p>