Trying to gauge if I am overthinking grants vs merit scholarships. Now that admissions decisions are out , at least in my DS case we have 7 schools to look at their aid packages, some are easy instate flagship no aid, some are 4 year guarantee merit scholarships, some are grants with a one year life span but will be viewed on a year to year basis. Some are a combo of both. I am slightly worried with the grants , yes they do not have to be paid back ( plus) but they are only good for one year at a time ( minus), I think most of us agree colleges balance sheets will be stretch in the upcoming years, how safe would you feel choosing schools with heavy grants vs merit scholarships. This is not federal aid just university funds. TIA
I think the terms are used interchangeably by many schools. Everyone calls athletic scholarships ‘scholarships’ except the NCAA, which calls them 'grants in aid." They are for 4 years at some schools and for 1 year at others. There are conditions like you have to remain on the team and meet all the qualifications like gpa.
My daughter had grants (athletic and state and from her school) and there were minimal conditions (2.0 gpa, remain in school). She had merit, that you’d call a scholarship and those had conditions too like 3.0 gpa and that they had to be used for 8 consecutive semesters. The merit from the state had conditions similar to the grants (gpa, limited to 120 credits).
You have to take some risks, but look at how likely the aid is to go away. We took the risk of her meeting the gpa requirements. It was never an issue. We also had the risk of the state not funding the merit or grants, but those remained in place, and even increased.
@twoinanddone - I guess I am trying to figure out your last point How likely the aid will go away, I am not concerned at the GPA requirement, that is on the student, I am concerned that a grant of say 25k is only a given for one year. My assumption is colleges will be hurting next year with lack of international students, loss of endowment due to stock market, more request for aid due to change in cashflow of parents…