St. Olaf is unusually open with their financial aid policies - I appreciate that it is not so much a black box as some other schools.
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I do think it is easier to miss things like merit caps if you havenât done the in person info sessions which is harder since covid. This is my 2nd kid applying, Olafâs merit caps were clear both times to us. That said, I think most good LACs have merit caps. Some are not clear about it. Between our 2 experiences, if you can get pricing to around your flagship U level maybe a bit above if you donât qualify for FA, thatâs about the best you can hope for. And some schools maybe have some bigger merit only awards possible but those would likely be rare. Both my kids also applied to LU (small LAC with music conservatory). Their merit caps similarly.
I wouldnât worry too much about distribution of funds. My oldest kid had Buntrock stats. He did 2 arts supplements. He got the smallest possible from one arts supp, the largest possible in the other, and moderate academic merit.
My 2nd kid is good academically, has more college credits but is a little less academic than older and a little more pointy and a little less strong STEM wise. Applied test optional. I wouldnât consider her a Buntrock student on paper, she just has different priorities than my straight laced oldest and is solidly an arts/humanities kid. She also did 2 arts supplements. She got a lot of academic merit, small music and was completely snubbed on the 2nd. But percentage wise for both kids it came out pretty similar, maybe my older kid did a tiny bit better.
I do think they are trying to distribute their merit money the best they can and they arenât overthinking how itâs labelled. I also think sometimes schools like this consider it a favor to just label it âacademic meritâ because then your student has more flexibility and isnât locked into a degree path. Big music awards I suspect to bring in unusual students/instruments (and that would drop their academic offering) or maybe used for students that wouldnât typically get much or any academic merit.
That said, my kid just snubbed on a supplement she spent hours and hours putting together that is central to her entire application is irritated and feels she wouldnât be welcomed/appreciated in that department even though I really doubt that is how it rolls. I donât want to give too much info about her background, but I did think that was a weird choice given what I know. She did get a really lovely handwritten note from admissions yesterday. 