Just for context, I am a rising sophomore at Tulane University. When I was originally accepted into the school last year, my statistics were much lower than the average applicant and therefore I received nothing in merit scholarships from the school. However, in my first year at Tulane, I earned a 4.0 and was named to the Dean’s List. After my recent performance, I was hoping to apply for merit-based aid as a sophomore not only because of my academic achievements, but primarily because it would be incredibly helpful to my family financially. As I perused the university’s website hoping to find information regarding applying for aid as a current student, I realized I couldn’t find any. I am hoping that someone could answer some questions about petitioning the school for merit aid as a sophomore, namely if this is even a possibility. I know it may be slightly unconventional, but if someone could shed some light on the process or share their own experience with this issue it would be amazing. Thanks!
Check if there are any department scholarships for your major. Also check if there are any local scholarships (there were a few at my daughter’s school from civic organizations). The FA department should know about any scholarships.
Schools that provide merit aid usually use it to entice high school students to matriculate, rather than to reward good performance by students who are already at the school. So I suspect your odds of getting any sort of large merit scholarship are not very good. Still, it certainly couldn’t hurt to ask the FA department. Some schools do have departmental scholarships, as twoinanddone noted, but I think they’re generally small(ish).
My DD2 got about $5-6K/year after her freshman year in dept merit aid. Do ask around.