Hi I got accepted to SAIC (School of art institute of Chicago) and they offered me Distinguished merit scholarship.
($20.000 Annually renewable) Is this a good scholarship? I hoped for half semester full scholarship because
SAIC is really expensive. It’s literally $65.000 per year and I can’t go… 
Is merit scholarship and full ride separated scholarship or is that a same “Scholarship” with less money…?
Congratulation on your acceptance and scholarship. It is true at very expensive colleges the tuition can still be too much to attend even after an award. Are they offering you any need based aid in addition? I mean did they give you your full aid letter yet? They do give need based aid they will award ‘in combination’ with merit. Did you get your financial info in by the deadline?
I guess you hoped for the presidential scholarship so you didn’t get it. That seems to be the largest merit scholarship available.
Is that a for-profit school?
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Art_Institute_of_Chicago , it is a private non-profit school with regional accreditation and some art and architecture accreditations.
No, it is a reputable art school, like RISD or Parsons.
The bigger question is how much are your parents willing to pay/borrow for you to attend this school in addition to the monies needed for supplies. I would not count on any need based aid other than any federal aid that you are eligible to receive because the just don’t gave the money to give.