From collegedata re. Vandy’s merit awards: “147 (9.2%) of freshmen had no financial need and received merit aid, average amount $21,873.” I’m not sure, but I would suspect that most of them are above the middle-50% of ACT scores there, which is 32-35.
OP, of the schools you have listed, my S18 received merit at Case Western ($31,000) and URichmond (1/3 tuition). He was accepted RD but no merit at Vanderbilt. He had very high stats: 36 ACT, 3.9/4.3 GPA, 12 APs by graduation, SAT Chem 800, SAT Math 2 790, NMF, AP Scholar of Distinction. He was also a 2 sport All-State athlete, and had good science ECs and recommendations. No hooks.
S did apply for both Vandy CV Scholarship and Richmond Scholars but was never even informed of the decisions; we had to keep checking and wondering.
Case Western informed S of merit with EA acceptance. S did visit also. He was recruited for athletics after EA acceptance.
Big merit at top 50 schools is VERY competitive.
I think the word “average” here can mislead some into thinking that 147 students each rec’d about $22k. More likely, because Vandy gives a (I think) $5k per year NMF award, and then gives some full tuition awards, that really you have a number getting a real small merit award, and some getting a large full tuition award.
And with a 70K a year COA, 21K merit leaves almost 50K a year to cover. Some bargain LOL.
@Sybylla To someone wanting to attend an elite selective school and getting $75k COA/year estimates from other top 20 schools, it is indeed a bargain.
@twogirls As many families ignorantly or even knowingly label need based aid as merit scholarships, i’m very skeptic to believe full tuition/full ride stories about any top 20 schoolsince there aren’t any at most and only rare full ones at ones who do offer some. In most cases it’s only few thousands.
I wish people commenting about merit scholarships would just go look at the Common Data Set for the school to get the facts. Instead people say silly things like “there are no merit scholarships at top 20 schools.”
If you go to the 2017-2018 Vanderbilt CDS (Common Data Set) under Section H (Financial Aid) line H2A(n) provides the “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).” That number is 134 enrolled freshman.
Line H2A(o) says that the average institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid (for those 134 enrolled freshman) was $23,629.
So if you look at the total number of enrolled Vanderbilt freshman (1607) and the number receiving non-need based academic scholarship (134) you will see that 8.3% of enrolled freshmen received a merit award. If you subtract out the number of enrolled freshmen who received need-based financial aid (865) from line H2d of CDS, you have 742 enrolled freshmen who DID NOT receive need-based financial aid.
134 of those 742 freshman who did not receive need based financial aid received a merit based academic scholarship. That is 18.1% of enrolled freshman who don’t qualify for need based aid receiving merit scholarships at a #14 ranked University in an amount averaging almost $24k. .
Can you count on getting a merit scholarship at Vandy? No of course not. But if you can get into Vandy and don’t qualify for need based aid you have about a 1 in 5 chance of getting a merit scholarship of some size.
.
@CupCakeMuffins my family member who received full tuition to GW does not qualify for need based aid.
@cupugu These numbers often include athletic and outside scholarships as well.
Anyways, let’s not forget that out of top 20, only few schools give partial scholarships to poach top students (who have several top 20 acceptances in their pocket), most give nothing.
@twogirls It may be the case but you wouldn’t know how much is their actual worth, how much debt they have and how they play their taxes or financial aid forms. Only they and their tax attorney can answer this question.
https://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/financial-aid
“Financial aid at Georgetown is based on demonstrated need; we do not offer academic or merit based scholarships”
These numbers also include faculty children- their aid is NOT need based, it is an employee benefit. So I’d interpret the generous “look how many merit scholarships we offer” with a grain of salt.
@CupCakeMuffins Actually the language in the relevant line of the CDS – line H2A(n) – is very specific in excluding “athletic” and “non-institutional” merit scholarships:
“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).”
@CupCakeMuffins I believe that @twogirls was referring to George Washington University, not Georgetown, when mentioning her family member who received a full tuition merit award.
@twogirls was posting about GW… Which is George Washington University…not Georgetown.
Georgetown gives precious little merit aid…but does guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students as they calculate that need to be.
George Washington does NOT guarantee to meet full need, but does have merit scholarships…and likely more than Georgetown where most financial aid is need based.
Sybylla wrote above," And with a 70K a year COA, 21K merit leaves almost 50K a year to cover. Some bargain LOL."
Actually, if a student receives a merit award, that does not preclude additional need based aid. The merit awards are given need blind. So the gap you are pointing out between COA and merit award will be bridged according to financial need. I see a lot of skepticism in some of the comments above. Definitely it is hard to get merit at Vandy. But out of the top 20 universities, it is amazingly generous with merit and financial aid. Princeton Review ranks it #1 in this regard out of all schools. Let’s celebrate this fact and ask other top schools to use their large endowments in a similar fashion. I’ve gone through the application process with a '21 and a '22, both of whom had top options, including Ivies, which of course offer no merit aid. Vandy was the perfect choice for one but the other. I hope the OP will keep Vandy in mind when applying.
@Sam-I-Am this would only be true if the meets full need school allows stacking of need based and merit aid. Most don’t.
Well, GW isn’t a top 20 school so may be they did.
I will say all of this just makes my head spin. I am in search of some merit aid for my D19. We are just going to apply to a variety of schools and just see what happens. Different types. Ones who would love for her to be a student all the way to ones that could take or leave her.
I just wish we could fast forward to the end of the process so I can know the answers. I am not real patient.
No, but the more merit you have, the less need you have. If you ‘need’ $30k for the $60k COA, and you receive $20k as a merit scholarship, you now need $10k. It’s unusual for a school to give you $30k in merit and still decide you need $30k in need based aid. It is much more common to have a school do the math as $60k COA less $20k in merit leaves $40k. If the famiy’s EFC was $30k, the school will do the math $40k-$30k= $10k in need.
What we found was the order of application of the FA was important. My daughter had 9-10 different awards/loans/grants each year. The school would not refund any of its own money (merit, athletic, grants). There was at least one state grant that could only be used for tuition. Bright Futures allows the school to restrict the funds and D’s school required it to be used for billed costs (tuition, room/board, fees) so it was applied toward the top. That left other funds to be applied or refunded. She had one FA officer who was very nice and applied SEOG and other grants that could be refunded last, but for D’s senior year a different FA officer wouldn’t do that, so D got $1000/sem less than the year before (she lost some of her athletic grant because it couldn’t be refunded to her by school rules).
OP is specific, no FA. So we are meandering. A 33 is nice but no cigar for ORMs in desirable schools. No wonder kids get starry eyed. OPs list is already reachy for merit, they need matches and safeties for the $$ not the dreams.
My kids with 33 ACT’s… i have zero idea how far they are from a 34 LOL. It is a 33 unless it IS a 34.