One that I have not seen mentioned on this thread is SMU. Our D19 received 39K annually from SMU even without being selected for any of their “big” scholarship programs such as Hunt, Presidential, etc. The dollars he did receive came with the initial admission or shortly thereafter and were based only on his initial application - there were no additional essays, interviews etc. We thought it was very generous.
Fairfield uses the CSS profile and merit aid ranges from $9k to 25k max as per the admissions officer last week during our tour. 2019 costs were $64,000
We were seeking merit money for our S19 who’s a non-hooked, non-STEM kid. It’s brutal out there for this kind of kid, so we had to think broadly. Hopefully the information below helps others who are similarly situated.
For reference: At the time of application, his UW GPA was a 3.76, and his W GPA was a 4.3. His ACT was a 34 (35 superscore). 4 on APUSH exam; 5s on AP Euro and Lang; taking 5 AP exams this year. Stellar ECs and (we assume) recommendations. Home state is Alabama.
Son was invited to compete for full merit scholarships at 4 schools: Rollins College, Miami University, University of Alabama and University of Montevallo. He received the full merit at Montevallo, but enrolled at Miami (stronger school all around, and he fell in love with the place, so we’re meeting him half-way on his gap).
Cost of attendance figures below do not include books, transportation, and money for supplies/fun stuff. For schools that don’t set tuition/fees/room/board for four years, I’ve added a “+” to the four-year COA because this number will surely be higher, which will ultimately lower the value of the merit scholarship/s each year.
College of Wooster: College Scholar Award ($34,000/$136,000) COA $64,250/257,000+
University of Alabama*: Presidential ($10,780/$43,120) COA $25,080/$100,320+
Ohio University: Green & White Scholarship $1k; Ohio Trustee Award $7k; Ohio Commitment Scholarship $2k; Ohio Premier Scholarship $12,612 ($22,612/$90,448) COA $35,738/$142,952
Rollins College: Dean’s Scholarship ($30,000/$120,000) COA $66,150/$264,600+
Juniata College**: Quinter Scholarship $28k; Top Scholar’s Award $2,500; Heritage Award $5,500 ($36,000/$144,000) COA $58,115/$232,460+
St. John’s College (MD): Trustee Scholarship ($12,000/$48,000) COA $49,270/$197,080+
Susquehanna University: Presidential Scholarship ($37,000/$148,000) COA $62,320/$249,280+
Miami University (OH)***: RedHawk Excellence Scholarship $39,000; University Academic Scholars $2k ($41,000/$164,000) COA $49,632/$198,528
*Alabama: if tuition rises, Presidential will adjust to cover the increase; 2019-2020 tuition/room/board/fees not posted, so using 2018-2019 figures.
**Juniata: 2019-2020 tuition/room/board/fees not posted, so used 2018-2019 figures; Juniata is also heavily recruiting OOS students to increase diversity (per their strategic plan)
***Miami: estimated tuition using past cohort figures as a guide; tuition increase will be announced in July
1 Like
thanks for sharing
thanks for sharing
With a 33 ACT and a 4.6 GPA, majoring in Engineering and coming from Illinois:
No merit at all from: Boston University, University of Illinois, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin Madison
Decent Merit (to get the price into the low 40s): U Mass Amherst
Great Merit: University of Iowa (can’t remember how much, but it was a lot) and $17,000 a year at University of Delaware (where she ended up committing to)
We were extremely disappointed in Boston University and Purdue. We thought for sure she’d get some merit at both of those schools.
@sunnryz low admission rate schools are notorious for not giving great aid. Higher admission rate schools give better aid.
For engineering (and with rolling admissions) you could probably still contact and get $$ from Arizona State, Iowa State, University of New Mexico, and University of Alabama.
My daughter received a $25,000/yr renewable Achievement Scholarship from Whitman College (COA about $59,000, I think). Whitman offers a number of merit scholarships, including for performance.
@sunnryz Thanks for sharing this info. Did the NPCs at Iowa and Delaware match the award? Or were the awards more or less?
1 Like
@txstella , to be honest we didn’t do the NPC for either of those schools because they were kind of low on her list (ironic since she ended up choosing UD). However, both Iowa and Delaware clearly listed the merit aid available on their website and what you needed to be awarded it. We did to the NPC for BU and Purdue, which is why we were so surprised when we ended up being full pay at both schools.
@sunnryz I’ve run NPCs that show a surprising amount of merit aid for my DS20 and it makes me suspicious. Iowa and UD, though, seem transparent. UD looks like a great school, and I really hope your D enjoys her time there. UD has a great location, too, IMO.
@txstella Thank you. If you would have asked me a year ago if I thought that’s where she’d end up I would have said you were crazy. I’m still freaking out about how far away it is. But between their generous merit, direct admission to biomedical engineering (not guaranteed at other schools), a well regarded honors college, and a synchronized ice skating team, it ended up being the best fit. 
@sunnryz - Purdue is very stingy with merit money, especially for OOS students. It has changed a lot in the last few years. One of my neighbors had two kids graduate from Purdue 6 - 8 years ago and both got very generous merit. My D with much, much higher stats got nothing. I’m glad that it worked out for your D at UDE
@FlyAwayTime In regards to Vandy, the 13% who get merit scholarships include many many kids who just get the $5000/year NMF scholarship. Getting more merit than that at Vandy is fiercely competitive and one needs to apply for one of their named scholarships. You can find that info on their financial aid website. We found this year that kids who got that aid were many times URMs and had close to perfect scores on multiple tests (some sent ACT and SAT as well and SAT2s and AP scores). They also seem to have very interesting stories and tons of leadership beyond their school.
@Eagle79 Boston College no longer has an honors program. They do still have the Gabelli Scholars. 15 full tuition awards. You get to choose your dorm.
As you probably know, it’s not really classified as a merit award.
It’s more like the Jefferson scholarships, though a lot fewer. It requires early acceptance, an invitation and a competitive process including in person interviews. This is isn’t really a merit award as such.
My d22 was offered an honors track within her science. That is invitation only and requires an app as well. No separate dorms or events. You can be offered a spot on the school’s academic journal to write articles. I think easier access to registration.
BC also offers guarantee 4 years of housing to nursing students, perhaps some athletes but I know it’s not all (maybe the holy trinity. Football hoops and men’s ice hockey ?) and top 10 percent or so of the admissions pool.
That’s about it for now. The rest is meets full need finaid.
@sunnryz You pretty much summed it right up when you said being from IL. When you start with a state flagship that will give high stats kids next to nothing it really makes you have to go on the hunt for merit. There is a serious brain drain going on in IL with kids going to other states and who knows if they will ever come back. My D19 didn’t even bother to apply to IL.
It’s a shame that UIUC has become the most expensive state school for its own residents. I remember a time, not much longer than 20 years ago when it was a very good deal for state residents. I have a lot of friends in IL and that’s where most of the kids went.
@sunnryz, it’s very tough to get merit from BU. They’d use merit to entice kids away from Ivies/equivalents or to fill institutional goals (like URM).
@cptofthehouse, UIUC is still a good deal, IMO, for IL families who can afford to spend $110K-$145K total and a kid who knows for sure what he/she wants to major in (and gets in to their major).
All IL publics have to give credit for AP tests of 3 or better these days, so graduating in 3 years for a high-achieving kid isn’t too difficult so long as they
- Are dead set on their major.
- Get in to their major.
- Don’t switch majors.
Seems these days that at LACs outside the very top tier and in the Northeast (who generally don’t give merit money or it is extremely difficult to get), a top 5-10 percentile kid will generally get enough merit money to bring COA down to $45-25K/year, or enough to make a LAC competitive with in-state costs.