@twoinanddone, if need is not met at Vanderbilt once all merit is applied, then additional aid is awarded based upon financial need. All the way up to full COA if there is still need. That is just the way it is. I have a kid with multiple scholarships there. I can’t speak to other schools. Maybe that is one of the reasons why Vandy was ranked #1 for FA by Princeton Review. Of course, if your point is that the “need” of many families disappears after the award of a merit scholarship covering full tuition, then I would agree. However, for those whose families still have need, additional FA is awarded.
@Sam-I-Am I think the point that @twoinanddone might have been making is that merit won’t be applied after institutional aid, but before. If a student is eligible for $45000 in institutional grant but are then awarded $30,000 in merit, their parents won’t be expected to contribute less than their parental EFC. That will remain the same. Some schools, don’t know about Vandy, will reduce student contributions with merit aid, but some just do a straight $for $ swap for the original aid package. So the outcome might be $30,000 merit, $15000 grant, and student contribution remains unchanged $20,000 grant, $30,000 merit, and student contribution eliminated. In both scenarios, parental contribution remains unchanged.
Look at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21066148 for examples of CWRU Merit…I see at least one ACT 33 get $25K in merit at CWRU
Also at Case 384 freshman get merit aid, the average which is: $ 23,573
Personal opinion–though grounded in lots of experience–is that the schools on your OP list are too selective for the ACT score. Needs to be more like 35-36 to be competitive for merit at those schools (including Pitt, which is shockingly competitive for merit).
CW was a free application that many high stats kids with no FA will apply to, that thread is full of deferrals for high stats kids. The merit offers are the exception, not the rule.
A spreadsheet helped keep my head from spinning off. We had a budget and went after merit. Ran the NPCs and had a very good idea of what to expect from each school.
It’s surprising that people expect refunds on top of financial aid based free education. Let college help another needy person.
@CupCakeMuffins Where did you read in this thread people expecting refunds on top of a FA-based free education?
Not to mention refunds rarely happen from institutional FA alone. Usually they happen because the student has some kind of external scholarships, merit + FA stacking, or (most commonly) just full merit awards. The last of which is, obviously, very hard to do.
If you manage that, why shouldn’t you get a refund?