What major financial aid should I be aware of?

Paying for College
4

<p>Many colleges award merit scholarships. Sometimes these go only to students with demonstrated need; often they go to any applicant that the college is eager to attract. Merit scholarships can range from about $1000 up to full tuition + room, board, and other benefits.</p>

<p>BUT … here’s the tricky part: Many merit scholarships require no separate application. All candidates for admission are automatically considered. But some merit scholarships DO require a separate application and, occasionally, even a nomination from your school beforehand.</p>

<p>You really need to be a detective and read college Web sites carefully to see what merit awards are offered and what you have to do to get them. This can involve a major treasure hunt because scholarship information isn’t always in an obvious place on college Web sites. This is especially important if you are applying to colleges that require a separate application for the best merit scholarships.</p>

<p>There are a number of good threads on College Confidential that discuss merit aid and list colleges with the biggest merit scholarships. For instance, this thread lists institutions with full-tuition merit opportunities: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Unfortunately, the whole merit aid process can be very frustrating. Not only is it hard to flush out the list of merit awards on college Web sites, but also, even after you do, it’s often tough to assess how much you might actually receive since the language that describes the award winners–and the amount they get–is often vague (e.g., “The Dwight Schrute Scholarships, which range from $2,500 to full-tuition, are awarded to applicants who have shown outstanding commitment to both academics and to their school community.”) Hmmm … kind of hard to figure out who qualifies, eh?</p>