Looking at the website it appears there are only 2 scholarships available… one for performing arts and one for science/math types. My HS Junior daughter is interested in playing a sport for Skidmore but we don’t qualify for financial aid and she is not interested in performing arts or science/math. Other schools she’s interested in offer significant merit aid given her grades/test scores. Has anyone received merit aid other than one of the two listed scholarships?
When I run the NPC for my daughter it looks as though some type of merit aid will be forthcoming. But she hasn’t applied yet, so I cannot confirm.
Other schools you’ve looked at might be less selective than Skidmore. In general, the more selective the college, the less likely it is that the college will offer merit aid. The acceptance rate is 30%, which is quite healthy. That means they don’t need to offer lots of scholarships but choose to do so for certain students.
Or, those particular scholarships were set up by individuals for a designated purpose. I notice they both appear to be named after people, unlike a generic Presidential Scholarship that many colleges might offer. So yes, that appears to be the extent of merit awards at Skidmore.
@Ally86 , did your child check the box on the Common app to be eligible for this? Merit Awards | Scholarships | Skidmore College
She would have completed some additional work to submit with the common app.
Merit aid is completely different from financial aid. The NPC might be showing your child is eligible for Financial aid, but unless she applies for those scholarships, she won’t get merit aid.
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My son was awarded merit aid of $10,000/year at Skidmore 4 years ago.
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The 2020-21 CDS shows only 1 first year (who didn’t qualify for need based aid) was awarded non-need based aid ($15k). Section H2A:
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From their website, it looks like there’s two opportunities - at $15K a year each.
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This is so confusing because I just heard from someone whose daughter got $30k a year merit. Didn’t even apply for financial aid. This student passed up Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan bc of the merit aid at Skid. Guess we have to wait for the pre read to know for sure.
Schools change their merit polices all the time. If my son had applied just two,years before to Syracuse, he should have been given a nice scholarship. He got nothing. Merit scholarships are a lure. When a school is getting the students it seeks, it doesn’t need the lure any more.
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Well, we have the CDSs that show us the truth (unless there’s a mistake lol).
How can you be sure this person is telling the truth about merit (could it be $30K total for 4 years?) and/or whether they applied for FA or not?
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Yes. And many people confuse “scholarships” with financial aid.
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My daughter goes to Skidmore. Yup, very limited merit money at Skidmore just those 2 scholarships you mentioned. My daughter does get money from a program called “Tuition Exchange” because my husband works at a university, but even that is a very complicated and competitive process.
@PH As I mentioned my daughter goes to Skidmore and loves it. But another thought for you. If your daughter has the kind of grades etc to get into Skidmore she will at Connecticut College too. CC is more sportsy than artsy which I know you said your daughter plays sports. CC gave my daughter 30K in merit last year. We were really surprised. An absolutely beautiful school, a tad isolated though. Maybe worth looking into. Good luck!
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