Schools known for good merit aid

University of San Francisco gave d18 $25k per year in merit. Act 31, GPA 3.97

May I ask how much? We only received $25 k for 4 yrs.

I meant at the University of Colorado.

@Kjskies228 - What major is she thinking of? Got really good merit from Case Western, Northeastern, Rutgers in STEM

My daughter got great merit packages from RPI, Clarkson, and U. of Akron. She got smaller awards elsewhere but nothing like those three schools.

DD received great merit offers from Oberlin, Dickinson and Kenyon. Some from Colorado College.

I’d love to follow this thread. Need merit money for my son with great stats. Thanks everyone

The University of Nebraska gives good merit aid, primarily based on your ACT/SAT scores.

Hi all here is my Ds results. I did a lot of merit research prior to application cycle.
Stats are 1550 SAT, 4.0/4.8ish. 12 APs, lots of music ECS, good recs and unique essays, not a ton of awards or leadership. very strong musician. All are merit.
St Olaf (academic and music) $28, Lawrence $28, Whitman (academic and music) $21,800, Grinnell 20K, Kenyon 15K, Case Western $28K, Oberlin $29K, Fordham $34K, Macalester $20K, Smith $10 K, Mount Holyoke- Full tuition.

Many of the state public schools have automatic merit aid for certain SAT or ACT and GPA. Here are links to the ones I could find. I’m sure there are more out there but thought this might be helpful.

Arizona State University https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator
Auburn University http://auburn.edu/scholarship/undergraduate/freshman.html
Boise State University https://financialaid.boisestate.edu/scholarships/non-resident-tuition-assistance-programs/
Clemson University https://www.clemson.edu/financial-aid/types/scholarships/clemson-scholarship-recruiting.html
Colorado School of Mines https://finaid.mines.edu/scholarships/
Colorado State University https://financialaid.colostate.edu/scholarships-for-entering-non-resident-freshman/
Florida Gulf Coast University https://www2.fgcu.edu/Admissions/Prospective/scholarship.html
Iowa State University https://www.admissions.iastate.edu/scholarships/freshman_award_calc.php
James Madison University http://www.jmu.edu/admissions/apply/scholarships-mas.shtml
Kent State University https://www.kent.edu/admissions/undergraduate/new-freshmen-scholarships
LSU http://catalog.lsu.edu/content.php?catoid=16&navoid=1263#Entering_Freshman_Nonresident_Scholarship_Programs
Lynchburg College https://www.lynchburg.edu/admission/financial-aid/types-of-aid/freshman-scholarships/freshman-academic-scholarships/
Marymount University https://www.marymount.edu/Admissions/Financial-Aid/Types-of-Aid/Undergraduate/Scholarships
McDaniel College https://www.mcdaniel.edu/undergraduate/admissions/apply/merit-scholarships
Miami University http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/index.html
Michigan State University https://admissions.msu.edu/cost-aid/merit-based-aid/freshman/out-of-state.aspx
Millersville University https://www.millersville.edu/finaid/grantsscholarship/admissions-scholarships.php
Mississippi State University https://www.admissions.msstate.edu/freshmen/money-matters/scholarships/academic-scholarships/
Mount St. Mary’s University http://msmary.edu/admissions/financial-aid/scholarships-grants/index.html
New College of Florida https://www.ncf.edu/admissions/cost-and-aid/scholarships/florida-freshmen/
Quinnipiac University https://www.qu.edu/tuition-financial-aid/scholarships.html
Roanoke College https://www.roanoke.edu/admissions/scholarships_and_financial_aid/how_do_i_pay_for_college/merit-based_aid
Shippensburg University https://www.ship.edu/financial_aid/scholarships/scholarships/
Slippery Rock University http://www.sru.edu/admissions/financial-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships/first-year-scholarships
St. Mary’s College of MD http://www.smcm.edu/financialaid/types/scholarships/
Texas A&M University https://scholarships.tamu.edu/FRESHMEN/University-Scholarships#0-AcademicScholarships
The Ohio State University http://undergrad.osu.edu/cost-and-aid/merit-based-scholarships
University of Alabama https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
University of Alabama-Birmingham https://www.uab.edu/students/paying-for-college/scholarships/act-gpa-based-scholarships-out-of-state
University of Arizona https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/freshman-transfer
University of Arkansas https://catalog.uark.edu/undergraduatecatalog/financialaidandscholarships/scholarshipsfornewstudents/
University of Colorado https://www.colorado.edu/scholarships/auto-consider/freshmen
University of Connecticut http://admissions.uconn.edu/cost-aid/scholarship
University of Delaware http://www.udel.edu/apply/undergraduate-admissions/financing-your-degree/
University of Georgia https://www.admissions.uga.edu/scholarships/
University of Idaho https://www.uidaho.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/out-of-state
University of Iowa https://admissions.uiowa.edu/finances/scholarships-first-year-students
University of Kansas https://admissions.ku.edu/tuition-scholarship/freshman
University of Kentucky https://www.uky.edu/financialaid/scholarship-incoming-freshmen
University of Louisville https://louisville.edu/admissions/cost-aid/scholarships/national-scholars-program
University of Maine https://go.umaine.edu/apply/scholarships/flagship-match/
University of Mississippi https://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/
University of Nebraska https://admissions.unl.edu/cost/#scholarships/O
University of Nevada, Las Vegas https://www.unlv.edu/finaid/scholarships-freshmen
University of New Hampshire https://admissions.unh.edu/merit-scholarships
University of North Florida http://www.unf.edu/admissions/scholarships/Freshman_Merit_Scholarships.aspx
University of Oklahoma http://www.ou.edu/content/admissions/affordability/scholarships.html
University of Oregon https://financialaid.uoregon.edu/scholarships_freshmen
University of Pittsburgh https://oafa.pitt.edu/financialaid/academic-scholarships/university-scholarships/
University of South Carolina https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/undergraduate_admissions/tuition_scholarships/scholarships/nonresidents/index.php
University of South Florida http://www.usf.edu/admissions/freshmen/admissions-scholarships/nonflorida.aspx
University of Tennessee https://onestop.utk.edu/scholarships/volunteer/
University of West Florida https://uwf.edu/admissions/undergraduate/cost-and-financial-aid/awards-and-scholarships/freshmen/
University of Wyoming http://www.uwyo.edu/admissions/scholarships/non-residents/rms.html
Ursinus College https://www.ursinus.edu/offices/scholarships-and-financial-aid/grants-scholarships-loans/
Virginia Commonwealth University https://www.vcu.edu/admissions/paying-for-college/scholarships/
West Virginia University https://financialaid.wvu.edu/home/scholarships/freshmen/non-residents#Scholarship%20of%20Distinction%20Level%202%20NR
Western Michigan University https://wmich.edu/admissions/freshmen/cost-scholarships/scholarships
Winthrop University https://www.winthrop.edu/finaid/academicscholarships/

Hello everyone here my son will soon receive his test results. What schools, known for good merit, should I choose my son?
Is there a lot of testing of his knowledge, can he use the services of help homework, because he spends a lot of time on sports. Who used these services and how reliable are they like study daddy? And sometimes there is very little time left for study. Tell me please.
Thanks in advance for the answer.

@Nertagy Hello, I see you are new here, but you have quite a few different questions. Can I suggest that you start a separate thread for your other questions? As for schools with good merit aid, see Post #1729 right above yours for a good start. Also go back and read through this thread for more information.
Good luck!

@Veryapparent Congrats on the great results! We are also looking at Fordham. I thought they only had high merit aid for NMF? Was that your situation as well? Thanks!

@DCNatFan awesome list! Just wanted to put a heads up on here—my son qualified for OSU’s National Buckeye Schokarship, applied by the early deadline and didn’t even get accepted to OSU (he was deferred then waitlisted). I’d advise looking at nothing as automatic. Have your student have a backup plan and a backup to their backup.

@gallentjill
No she was National Merit Commended. It was purely merit and came with guaranteed housing for four years and entry into honors program.

S 34 ACT/10AP/UW GPA ~3.8 (for most when applied, went down for RD bc he “thought he was done” lol), lots of ECs (singer/performed in a professional opera, 5 yr mock trial attorney (team went to nationals), chess team captain, dedicated to a cancer cause affecting our family)

Did lots of research, and there were others that would also be great (Whitman, Puget Sound, Kenyon, Denison, Gettysburg) but he was done! Some also had music scholarships avail, but at the time, he didn’t want to do more than regular app, so all just per year merit:

U of Denver - 26k, Occidental - 20k, Rhodes College - 25k, Trinity U - 22k and invite to compete at scholars day, Arizona - 30k, American U - 20k (wld be 30k if u fill out and get honors), university of Miami - 23k and invite to compete at scholars day, Indiana - 11k and direct admit to Kelley bus and honors (couple thousand more avail if u fill our selective scholarship app), University of Richmond - 1/3 tuition, Lafayette College - 24k + 4k study abroad (after competing at scholars day - fellows get 40k + 4k; think 1st semester grades did him in).

Very happy with choices. It became clear as yr went on he wants liberal arts, not big school, so would have taken out bigger schools and added a few more liberal arts options. Also, suggest using college factual to see breakdown of geographic diversity, if that matters to you. Would not have included a couple based on that in retrospect.

Question about Quinnipiac
do you think the freshman merit scholarship is included in the net price calculator?

For NPCs, a clue that they will include a merit scholarship is if they ask for GPA and test scores. If they don’t ask for that they aren’t going to show merit aid. But what I did when I was running them was I just always used inflated values for income and savings that I knew would get no need based aid on any calculator, and therefore any scholarships that came out were merit based (assuming of course the NPC asked for GPA and scores).

We’re a full pay family, we did not file FAFSA or CSS at any school, and we were hunting for merit for our D who wanted to go to an LAC, our budget was basically our in-state schools (COA $37k).

Her stats: 32 ACT (33 superscored)/3.8UWGPA/4.2WGPA IB diploma candidate from a diverse, underperforming public school. Her ECs were all over the map, representing her lack of direction well. She’s undecided on major and far from “pointy”, though she did have leadership, and she did have things she stuck with all 4 years.

She primarily applied to what we considered admissions safeties, where she was well in the top 75% and the school accepted over 50% of applicants. We didn’t anticipate rejections, and we got none. We weren’t sure how the merit would fall. She also applied to a “financial safety” where we knew from the start it was affordable and she was auto-admit. That school is not included on the list below. All apps were submitted EA1 or 2 and we had the majority of our results including scholarship info before Christmas.

School\Final Merit Award\Estimated COA(Tuition+Fees+R&B) for her:
Agnes Scott College$26k$26k
Beloit College$30k$27k
Southwestern University$33k$21k
Trinity University$25k$30k
University of Puget Sound$22k$38k
University of Redlands$30k$32k
Whittier College$31k$29k
Willamette University$25k$35k

When all was said and done, we determined that only Puget Sound had really not offered her enough. So they were scratched off the list. Willamette was also a bit high when factoring in travel costs, but we left it in the mix as both D & H had really bonded with the school when they visited. She was invited to, and attended, additional scholarship days at about 4 schools. In all cases these extra scholarships were very competitive, in some cases, extremely so. We didn’t go in expecting anything, and indeed, she was mostly granted an additional $1k just for showing up. However, she was awarded the competitive Brown scholarship at Southwestern, which was about a 4k bump from the initial scholarship they gave her (Brown amount reflected above).

In the end she had some great choices well within our budget, and for the most part, the NPCs did show the scholarships before hand, I just wasn’t sure how much I could rely on that.

CalTech is only need based.

University of the South, Suwanee