<p>For my family, good merit aid means the cost is equal to that of most of our public state schools. So if state school X costs 14,000 and private school Y costs 30,000 (tuition) but I receive a 16,000 scholarship, than that's good aid.</p>
<p>rechanting celebrian's post : That is how we made the decision for our D ....her OOS private college ( with Merit/need base stuff ) was less than her desirable SUNY . It makes a lot of sense in the long run.................</p>
<p>Rice -- $60K/4 years
Mt Holyoke -- $100k/4 years</p>
<p>The important thing is always the "bottom line". If you get 15K per year from school A (where total tuition, r and b is 32000) and you get 25k per year from school B (where total tuition r and b is 43000) - school A is actually a better deal, since the bottom line is less. Advertisers try to set us up for the opposite mindset all the time - "Save 3000K on a new car today!", instead of "Pay 25K for a new car today." I know I'm preaching to the choir, but always check the bottom line! :)</p>
<p>P.S. I'm with the poster above. We define good merit aid as making our costs equal to instate public U costs. We're not picky. We don't care if it is labeled part merit and part needbased, or all merit aid, or all needbased. We just care that it sets the cost at instate public, and comes with reasonable criteria for renewal (such as gpa above 2.8!)</p>