Is there such a thing?
I’m not sure it would fall under “merit” but I have wondered myself if a Catholic university is more generous with financial aid for families that may not have as much saved for college due to their children’s lifelong Catholic school education. I know its a personal and optional choice we make so I fully understand why its not considered within the financial aid applications but it doesn’t stop me from thinking “surely they understand how that affects a family’s ability to afford college, maybe they would be more generous with aid because of it?” So count me among the curious…
I don’t know if anyone can answer that with real data. But if you child attends a Catholic high school you will see that many kids continue one to Catholic college. Is it cheaper or just more comfortable? I think maybe it’s a bit easier to get in from a Catholic HS, whether the aid is better, is an unknown.
Try the University of Mary. It’s cheap even before you consider that kids from catholic high schools can qualify for free R&B. You have to be ready for winter in Bismarck, ND though. Not going to lie, that can be a hard, cold thing to embrace.
The guidance counselor at my kids’ Catholic high school said Catholic colleges don’t provide more merit to Catholic hs grads. My S applied to two Catholic colleges and D applied to one, and they both received about the same merit from them as the other schools to which they applied.
I believe that some Catholic schools will consider tuition expense for younger siblings when determining need based aid.
Yes, there are some , or were some. The ones I knew were local Catholic schools, sometime with some affiliation with a college. I know, for an example, Duquesne University has such awards.
Also, certain dioceses will have awards for students going on to Catholic schools. Baltimore did.
Some of the awards were automatic awards, others a limited number were awarded.
I suggest researching local diocese and Catholic colleges as to what they offer, for starters.
St. John’s university in New York has an automatic scholarship for students graduating from A catholic high school. I believe it is $2500 a year.
My kids did not attend Catholic school but when we toured University of San Diego, they said that they give merit to kids coming from Catholic High Schools.