<p>The statistics about the percent of students who receive merit aid (which is broken down by students who also receive need-based aid vs. students who don’t receive need-based aid) – like what is reported at [University</a> of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tuition, Costs and Financial Aid - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1600]University”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1600) – are part of the data that colleges are required to report to the government, and there are strict definitions about what to report and how to calculate. </p>
<p>Larger schools, like UNC Chapel Hill, have separate departments to crunch the numbers and do the reports, so I think the accuracy is probably pretty high. </p>
<p>Not sure where you are getting the 11% from. CollegeData shows that:
- 45.6% of freshmen who received need-based aid received merit aid
- 21.5% of freshmen who did not receive need-based aid received merit aid. </p>
<p>The percentages go down when looking at all undergraduates:
- 30.6% of those receiving need-based aid received merit aid and
- 15.2% of those who did not receive need-based aid received merit aid.</p>
<p>So it’s always a good idea to confirm with a college whether you can expect to receive the merit aid each year.</p>
<p>You are definitely right that Oregon State is much, much less generous, when it comes to merit aid (although I’m not sure where you get the 1% from). CollegeData shows:
- 2.5% of freshmen who received need-based aid received merit aid
- 0.2% of freshmen who did not receive need-based aid received merit aid. </p>
<p>The percentages are similar for all undergraduates:
- 1.9% of those receiving need-based aid received merit aid and
- 0.2% of those who did not receive need-based aid received merit aid.</p>