<p>Let's start a list of schools that offer NO merit aid. Just need-based aid...</p>
<p>This is an ever-moving target, not sure we have the focus to keep up such a list (thinking of the list on the scholarship forum about NMF scholarships, that was been an act of love for the creator to build and maintain, and has sort of fallen off once she stopped). Certainly MANY of the top ranked schools (eg, Ivies, NYU, most top LACs) offer no merit aid, but the only way to really tell is go to the web site and verify in the financial aid section. </p>
<p>One school that surprised me in offering no merit aid is Franklin & Marshall. A couple of years ago they did away with all merit aid. We had been considering it as a safety/possible merit school for D2, who really likes science and wanted an LAC, but took it off the list when they dropped the merit aid. Reed is another school that surprises me with no merit aid.</p>
<p>I guess this IS a moving target intparent, because my son got a nice merit scholarship from F&M when he applied in 2010. I have heard Reed is stingy about awards. I also heard NYU is as well, but he didn’t apply to either of those.</p>
<p>The two St. john’s Colleges in Annapolis and Santa Fe offer no merit.
Georgetown</p>
<p>Reed is need aware, meets full need but doesn’t award merit.</p>
<p>NYU has merit aid. Though it’s rare, although so is their need-based aid.</p>
<p>From 2009, but things are not much different today at Reed:</p>
<p><a href=“Reed College, in Need, Closes a Door to Needy Students - The New York Times”>Reed College, in Need, Closes a Door to Needy Students - The New York Times;
<p>The Ivy League</p>
<p>Here’s a list from US News of schools that claim to meet demonstrated need. The list is from 2010 and I know that some have changed their policies. </p>
<p>[Colleges</a> That Claim to Meet the Full Financial Needs of Students - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students)</p>
<p>Some of these schools may offer merit aid, but I’ve looked at them and at least schools that rank in the top 30 or so don’t offer merit aid. (I guess they like to project a culture that all admitted students are meritorious, and equally deserving of aid based on need. Incidentally, I’ve also noticed that full need, non merit aid schools do not separate students out into honors and non-honors tracks–again in line with the idea that all are equally meritorious. They imply they don’t need to do anything special to attract top students who might otherwise go elsewhere. They think they are the elsewhere.)</p>
<p>Of course, they say they meet “demonstrated need,” and that definition may vary from school to school. But, that said, Connecticut College offered my kid exactly the balance between our EFC and their total cost. </p>
<p>To this should be added the fact that depending on your circumstances, you may not feel comfortable or able to meet your formula derived EFC. </p>
<p>Also, of note, beyond no merit aid, there’s the distinction of full need versus full need and no loans. But I’ve noticed that the full need schools meet need without loans beyond the standard $5,500 Staffords. The list of no loans has been dwindling. </p>
<p>You could say that any school that allows you to borrow 6 figures to graduate is full need, but that violates the spirit of the concept.</p>
<p>As far as I know, Haverford, Vassar, Carleton, Pomona and Macalester don’t give merit $$. Carleton and Mac will give NM award if the student has no other source for that. At least that was true 5 years ago. Two of the more selective schools that do give merit awards are Grinnell and Oberlin.</p>
<p>The ivies and MIT are the only schools that I know of which give literally 0 merit-based aid. Of the other elite privates, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Stanford, and Chicago all have some merit aid available, but it is extremely difficult to get. NU is mostly for debate/math people, Stanford for athletes. Hopkins and Duke give something like 10 full rides out per year, each, and Chicago has smaller merit awards going to around 10% of their enrolled population.</p>
<p>The higher up one moves on the food chain, the scarcer merit aid becomes.</p>
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<p>But they may offer honors courses. Consider Harvard’s four different nominally sophomore-level math courses, Math 21a-21b, 23a-23b, 25a-25b, and 55a-55b (as well as the less rigorous Math 19a-19b, 20 for less mathematical majors).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.math.harvard.edu/courses/index.html[/url]”>http://www.math.harvard.edu/courses/index.html</a></p>
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<p>Reed is a niche school and it wants to remain a niche school. Therefore if you don’t really like Reed that much, it’s not going to court you with money–that’s not the reason why people should come here.</p>
<p>And then there’s the universal argument, which is that merit aid is a form of preferential treatment and schools should not treat some of their students as if they’re more deserving of assistance & attention than others. I buy that.</p>
<p>Ghost,</p>
<p>I don’t think that argument is universal. If it was there would not be holistic admission process where somebody gets admission preference for being URM or playing sports. And there would not be need based fin aid either, because if no one deserves aid based on merit then no one deserves aid for being needy.</p>
<p>It is the universal argument against merit aid in particular, and it differs from the examples you cite in several important ways, chief among them being the distinction between treating college applicants differently based on their background and treating some accepted students better than others (not addressing their needs with free tutoring or counseling sessions or need-based financial aid or whatever, but rewarding them with cash they do not, strictly speaking, need), as if they are more accepted than the rest of the student body.</p>
<p>To put it in simpler terms, there is a difference between being committed to providing your students with the resources they need to flourish and paying those of them you assume will flourish to come to your school.</p>
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<p>It is a moving target. We visited F&M this past spring, and indeed, they’ve discontinued merit aid that recently. We took it off our list (along with the other non-merit aid schools). I consider merit aid along the same lines as sports scholarships. While there are schools/teams where kids/parents are willing to go and pay their way to be there just to be associated with that particular “team,” we appreciate schools that recognize what an individual can bring to their school and award higher (than normal) level current talent accordingly.</p>
<p>There are plenty of good to great schools with options for merit aid just as there are plenty of good teams out there with sports scholarships for students they want to come.</p>
<p>And then there’s the universal argument, which is that merit aid is a form of preferential treatment and schools should not treat some of their students as if they’re more deserving of assistance & attention than others. I buy that.</p>
<p>Schools that don’t give merit- ivies- many of the top lacs, et. al., seem to be saying " all our admitted students are equally deserving of merit aid, therefore no one is singled out to receive merit aid. We will however acknowledge need, so some students will receive need based aid".</p>
<p>Schools that give merit aid, are interested in encouraging students who may raise the academic profile of he school to attend. Athletes may be recognized as well b
& encouraged to attend.</p>
<p>I don’t think any private school is “known” for not offering merit aid.
The schools we’ve been discussing that do not offer it are “known” for other things. Among people familiar with colleges and universities in the USA, it should be well known that the most selective, most prestigious among them generally do not offer merit aid. They don’t need to in order to attract top students.</p>
<p>Are there state universities that don’t, as a matter of policy, offer merit aid? These would be schools where top students might apply with the expectation of getting it. So, unlike the Ivies (where nobody should be surprised not to receive merit aid), these might be schools that should be “known” for no merit aid.</p>
<p>I see that Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, UVa, UNC, UT-Austin, and Wisconsin all offer at least some merit aid. These are among the most selective state flagships. If even they offer it, I doubt there are many state flagships “known” for no merit aid (and hence to-be-avoided as potential financial safeties for students with very high stats).</p>
<p>I don’t think public universities in general offer much merit aid, although there are a few which do currently seem to be generous.
University of Alabama has been mentioned lately in that category.
But even for NMS, schools may offer $1,000 at the most & give themselves a pat on the back.</p>
<p>H just mentioned the state flagship this morning, as his bosses daughter was disappointed not to receive any merit aid. ( don’t know her stats, but applications are quite competitive this year to the university of Washington). UW doesn’t seem to offer money directly tied to NM, although they do offer a number of full tuition merit awards, to honors students. She did receive a small award to the smaller state university that our youngest attends however, so she will be going there instead. Every little bit helps!</p>