<p>ALL of the Ivies, Stanford, and MIT offer "merit aid" to needier applicants, but they would never admit to it. They do so by varying the size of the grant portion of the scholarship, the loan portion, work expectations, etc., and they can vary quite widely for two admits with exactly the same level of need. They didn't like competing with each other on this basis, and tried to band together to ensure the same package would be offered to each applicant, regardless of where they applied. The federal Justice Department went after them based on anti-trust violations. It was settled out of court in the late 1990s, and they are back to competing on the basis of "merit aid".</p>
<p>And it goes further than that. If in April, you are admitted to several different "need-based schools" and one offers more than the one you wish to attend, you call up the school you want and ask them to match the offer. All of a sudden, you've become poorer, and your "need-based aid" is increased. Funny how that works.</p>
<p>There are NO needblind, nor "non-merit aid" schools in the country except those that don't cost anything - Cooper Union, Curtis, and the military academies (to name a few.)</p>
<p>Yes, TheDad, my d. wears the mark of Zorro!</p>
<p>I'm not sure what you mean by "top level" universities....maybe you could explain. I hope your not referring to rankings. Perhaps you meant "prestigious" or well known.</p>
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<p>I meant the top LACs ... I'm not a big fan of rankings either ... but tiers seem to cause less angst. The top tier of LACS includes schools like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, etc ... do these guys provide merit aid also? Or are some of these LACs that do not?</p>
<p>The operative words in Mini's post are "needier applicants." For students who would not qualify for finaid at top LACs, I don't believe there would be any merit aid with the exception of prizes and awards. Perhaps Mini could elaborate.</p>
<p>Here's a list of merit scholarships awarded by various colleges - I ran into this by sheer accident a few minutes ago. The list shows if separate apps are required...</p>
<p>DStark:
De nada. Actually, if you want to mine a <em>rich</em> list of similar links, just google 'kenyon merit scholarship', and browse through the links that show up (the link above was one of the first). A lot of them are scholarship lists maintained by different high schools around the country.</p>
<p>Nice link, agreed. But for those still in the process, be aware that it's not exhaustive. EG, I know Tulane offers a good amount of merit aid, most without special application, and I did not find it on this link.</p>
<p>Weenie, Kenyon gives merit scholarships without a special application up to $10,000 per year plus extra for National Merit, but there are larger merit scholarships for up to half tuition which do require a separate application. My daughter was accepted ED to Kenyon.
As far as Bucknell, I believe that they either don't give merit aid or maybe they have just started giving it and it is very limited. My sister inquired about this at Bucknell for my nephew who is also a hs senior this year.</p>
<p>Thanks motheroftow. I was thinking that neither would offer much in the way of merit. Too bad, because my son loved Bucknell, but without merit $ it will not be one of his choices. A friend of mine who is an alumna emailed me a link to her Bucknell newsletter that was talking about some merit scholarships they were going to start doing this year. But, there was like THREE of them! I guess they are going to try to expand it though. I suppose they've noticed that to stay competitive they have to have some money to give out.</p>
<p>I did not know about Kenyon having some merit $. I knew about their bigger scholarships that have to be applied for in Dec...but S refused to write any more essays at that time (!). So, we'll see when he hears from them. Thanks again.</p>
<p>"The operative words in Mini's post are "needier applicants." For students who would not qualify for finaid at top LACs, I don't believe there would be any merit aid with the exception of prizes and awards. Perhaps Mini could elaborate."</p>
<p>Agreed - they figure you'd attend without them giving you anything, or, if not you, someone equally qualified and wealthy enough, so waste money when they can get someone to pay full freight? They see "merit" in your ability to pay! (I suspect, however, that if, in April, one LAC offered you finaid and the other didn't, you could send them the offer from the other school, and chances are the other one would now find you poorer, and come up with some bucks.)</p>
<p>I've seen this scenario play out for my Son and for some other friends and relatives over the past 5 years. I love your phrase, "They see merit in your ability to pay." During the application phase, many schools use their complete arsenal of "enrollment management" tools to craft an entire class (in all of the typical, widely discussed ways), including however distinguishing between who can pay full-freight and who might need a little "enticing."</p>
<p>The "comparing financial offers" phase is a very subtle, tricky thing. It doesn't necessarily happen for many at HYP or comparable schools. But if a school is very interested in a student -- for whatever reason -- it happens more, and at more schools, than many care to admit. Is it horse-trading of a sort? Of course it is. But nobody will admit it, nor does anyone want to even address it head-on. Rather, during that very brief period where the student has the upper-hand and leverage, during that period where a student might have multiple offers from comparable schools and is balancing admissions and financial questions, it becomes a "wink-wink" process where schools can hear about your difficult choices, learn that your "dream" still is their school (if only it were possible), and somehow they take a "closer" look at the financials (or, at some schools, their merit program) ... and ... voila ... this kid is suddenly more in need of financial assistance -- or more merit worthy -- than the student was just hours before.</p>
<p>"In an effort to improve our awards, beginning fall 2005 incoming freshmen are eligible to receive a Harvey S. Mudd Merit Award maximum of $10,000 per year, in addition to the amount of the HMC National Merit Scholarship. Returning students are not eligible for the new amount. Harvey S. Mudd Merit Award recipients are eligible to receive a maximum of $10,000 of merit dollars annually from HMC. Thus, if a student receives both the Harvey S. Mudd Merit Award and the HMC sponsored National Merit Scholarship, the Harvey S. Mudd Merit Award will be reduced by the amount of the HMC sponsored National Merit Scholarship."</p>
<p>My son got a Trojan Scholarship from USC in 2003. It's $4,000 a year. There is no application for it, and it's not listed on their website. It was a nice surprise.</p>
<p>My daughter received the following, all without an additional application:
American U-$18,000 per year
U of Miami-1/2 tuition, currently worth around $15,000
Ithaca College-$8,000 per year
Marist College-$10,000 per year
Penn State-$1000 one time payment from school of communications</p>