<p>The graphics with this NY Times story are the best tools I've seen for finding the most generous schools for merit aid:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/education/edlife/a-rise-in-students-receiving-merit-awards.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/education/edlife/a-rise-in-students-receiving-merit-awards.html</a></p>
<p>Click on the graphic link to the left of the story and you can can sort each column and see which of the more than 600 schools offer merit aid to the highest percentage of freshmen or give the highest average awards. You can also see whether each school has raised or lowered its awards since 2007-08, right before the recession.</p>
<p>The graphic is at: Colleges</a> and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com</p>
<p>It's also worth checking the Education Life section in the Sunday NYT paper for another graphic that filters out most of the small colleges and lists the top 100 merit-aid schools that have at least 2,000 undergraduates, give awards to at least 10% of freshmen and provide average amounts of at least $5,000. The data all comes from the College Board.</p>
<p>I know the Ivys don’t give merit aid but there were a few surprising omissions of schools that do give merit aid, Duke, Emory and U Rochester.</p>
<p>Thank you for posting this list. This is why I love this site. Daily I learn something new from some great people.</p>
<p>Not sure how accurate this is.</p>
<p>To pick one school, University of South Carolina-Columbia, the graphic says 37% of freshmen get merit aid, but the Common Data Set says 81% [(H2g + H2n)/H2a]:</p>
<p>[USC</a> Institutional Assessment and Compliance](<a href=“Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina”>Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina)</p>
<p>Since they are reporting average amounts, they are likely using H2n/H2a. The average amount of non-need-based aid for the awardees in H2n is given in H2o, whereas the average amount that goes with H2g is not reported.</p>
<p>H2n/H2a is not a terribly helpful number, because it is highly dependent on the fraction of students having no need (H2a-H2c). A more relevant figure for people wanting to gauge their odds at merit aid is H2n/(H2a-H2c), i.e. the fraction of students determined to have no need who receive non-need aid. This figure is computed for quite a few schools in this thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-3.html</a></p>
<p>Thank you for the list. Very helpful and interesting.</p>
<p>What is particularly striking to me are the % changes in merit awards from a few years ago. Many times I was using info from those times as I have older kids who went through the process, and their peers’ experiences as well. A lot has changed, and it makes it clear that one truly has to check with original and current sources of information on any thing that is important.</p>
<p>An example is UPitt. It had been my experience that the Chancellors award and other merit money seemed to be very loose flowing for good students. In the past few years, it seemed to me that it has become increasingly difficult to get these awards, and the minimum standards have been raised quite a bit. I thought that it was because the programs were attracting attention from a lot of high stat kids, making it more competitive to get these awards. Well, it may be part of the reason, but there has also been a striking decrease in the awards offered as welll–over a 40% drop. That does explain why some kids with great profiles did not get much money. The awards are just not there as they were.</p>
<p>The list is not complete, and there are issues with it, as with all such things, but what a treasure trove to have. One omission, I noticed, as it is a local school to me, is Fordham. I wonder if they simply did not provide the info. I know a lot of kids who get some nice merit awards from there. All commuters get a grant to help with those expenses. That put the school witin my son’s affordable list, when otherwise it would be over the top. </p>
<p>Oh, and Rochester is another school that is popular here and seems to give nice aid packages that is not there. I’m sure there are more, but any such list is a great resource.</p>
<p>Again, thanks.</p>
<p>My daughter was offered merit money at 5 schools during her application process in 2008 - Union College, Hobart and William Smith, Drew University, Ursinus, and University of Vermont. Of the 5 UVM offered her the least money - and it’s the only school on this list. I would take the data on this list with a very big grain of salt!</p>
<p>Always have the salt shakers out when looking at money sources, especially free money! The list just gives you some start. Any schools OOS to an applicant is not going to give money in the same pattern as it would for an instater, as a general rule. And averages are averages. It’s possible that not a single kid in the school got that average award. That is the problem with composites. And if a school won’t give info, not much one can do. But it makes a nice resource, cross check list with the Common Data Set.</p>
<p>This is one initial screening tool, but people should do more research on their own. </p>
<p>For example, there are only a couple public universities that meet 100% of out of state US students - UVa, William and Mary and UNC - Chapel Hill. UVa does not offer direct merit aid, but the need based aid may be more beneficial, particularly for an out of state middle income or upper middle income student. Also, there are full merit scholarships available for incoming UVa students, but they are from the private Jefferson Foundation, so they do not show up in charts.</p>
<p>There also are some other public universities that direct much of their merit aid to out of state students. That is because they want to bring their price down closer to that student’s own in-state flagship.</p>
<p>You can also see the results of state budget cuts. If a state cut funding to a state university, the easiest place to quickly cut expenses was in merit aid.</p>
<p>Charlie, W&M only meets need for instate.</p>
<p>
[William</a> & Mary - Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/financialaid/]William”>Financial Aid | William & Mary)</p>
<p>Good catch, E D. </p>
<p>There are some colleges that direct some “merit aid” to students with financial need. If they know a student will need aid to be able to afford to attend, they call some of it merit aid so it sounds better to the applicant.</p>
<p>As cptnofthehouse says, the NY Times list does seem to offer a good starting point in putting together a college list with a sprinkling of schools where you could feel more comfortable about your chances of getting the discounts you might need. </p>
<p>Besides checking out the bigger colleges on the list, it could also be very helpful for families interested in tech schools and regional and religious colleges. If you don’t start out with strong preferences for particular schools, the Times list is valuable in showing which colleges have increased aid since 2007-08 and which ones have reduced it with the harder economic times.</p>
<p>They missed Swarthmore in the <1% category.</p>
<p>Also when you pick a school from the list, do look at like schools even if they are not on the list and do some research.</p>
<p>None of this data is going to necessarily be relevant to YOU. WIth you being any given student or family. I was playing with some college NPCs and some of the ones on the colleges own sites are ridiculously primitive Absolutely no stats were asked for, so you come up with a number that is the same whether you have an A student with near perfect SAT schools, as you would for one would barely make it into the school with it being a reach. That’s how averages, and nets work. You have your head in the freezer and your backside to the fire and you should be perfectly comfortable overall.</p>
<p>Basically what I have done is use test scores, and the perscentage of kids getting merit money. If my kid’s test score puts him roughly in that echolon, then there is a chance that he will get merit money. Then I look at the average amounts, and if I can get it find out if there are more than one plum all tuition, full ride awards, and looking at my child’s grades, geographics, other factors in terms of what the college wants, make that decision as to where he might fall in the award amounts. Many times, it comes down to many $5K awards being given which isn’t going to help much on a $60K tab, but is very nice if it is your in state school. I would check the info out with schools that I am familiar with first and see how it works. You can look at the SUNYs there and see where you are likely to get some merit money, where you might get some serious merit money and where you are going to get bupkiss, for example</p>
<p>The list also helps bring some names to the fore that may not have made your radar screen. Those with good students should take a good hard look at Rhodes College. Those numbers look mighty good to me. If you have a kid with good test scores and you are looking for a LAC experience but simply cannot pay much more state flagship prices, that is one good deal. Great school too</p>
<p>Also some interesting patterns on LACs in that NYT database. While the Midwestern ones have been generous with merit aid - I guess to attract kids from other regions - it’s interesting to see that Denison, DePauw, Kenyon and Grinnell also give merit aid to fewer freshmen now than they did in 2007-08, with Grinnell’s award recipients down by 56%. </p>
<p>Denison and Kenyon raised their average awards, though, to $16,370 and$12,123, respectively. DePauw’s dropped slightly to $17,007 and Grinnell’s slipped to $9,549.</p>
<p>In addition to Rhodes, another LAC that looks good in this data is Furman in South Carollina. It gave merit aid to 34% more freshmen last year than it did in 2007-08 and which bumped up the average award by 2% in real terms to $15,379.</p>
<p>Some schools give out large amounts of merit aid for a reason. For example, one LAC gives out really great aid - because it is next to a slum.</p>
<p>Ah! And which slum is that? :)</p>
<p>I know that girls with great math backgrounds can get more merit aid at tech schools that have a 70/30 male/female ratio.</p>
<p>Is there any sign that guys are favored for merit aid at more liberal arts-focused schools that have close to 55-60% women?</p>
<p>howitworks, who knows. But S was offered very generous merit (and in two cases, music merit, if you will, by audition) at several schools on that list and while he has good test scores, UW GPS was only 3. So…maybe?</p>