<p>I discovered a merit calculator on the website of a small private college that has been contacting my DS. It asks for SAT CR &MATH and GPA. It then showed the name of award and $ value. Is this the norm among small privates?</p>
<p>Many places have numbers-based admissions and/or merit aid. However not all places do. Do not be surprised to find this sort of thing on the website, and don’t be surprised if it isn’t there.</p>
<p>There is a thread in the Financial Aid Forum that includes information about many guaranteed merit aid offers. If you scroll down through that forum, you should find it.</p>
<p>That’s sweet. The NPC for Fordham U basically tells you how much merit aid your student can expect as it asks for test scores and gpa. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s pretty close. Unless a school specifically guarantees merit money for certain set points, it can be lottery, however, and one has to know how the school is distributing the money in reality. Plus things change from year to year.</p>
<p>Plus the GPA is whatever that college says it is, as we found out. Different colleges convert to a 4.0 scale differently, some count only core academic and not electives, some add weight for AP but not honors and in varying amounts, etc. For one school, guidance counselor confirmed how it was converted and discovered the college used .5 lower, just below the cutoff for the highest level of merit.</p>
<p>Minnymom</p>
<p>Many schools do not have those, some do.</p>
<p>Some have grid charts that tell you the same thing.</p>
<p>Assured merit awards for certain stats are a nice thing to get for “back up” schools or safeties. Some privates and some publics have them.</p>