A commonly recurring question on this forum is, “Which schools give the best merit aid?” Responses generally are helpful but anecdotal in nature. I decided to see if I could come up with a means to help answer this question on a comprehensive basis. It turns out that schools report the size and number of merit aid scholarships that they distribute via the Common Data set and from this data potentially useful comparisons can be made.
Merit Aid Data
I accumulated Merit Aid data from all the MT programs listed at the top of this forum from College Data. I used “Merit-Based Gift” percentages and the average award amounts for incoming Freshman who had no financial need and received merit aid. I used these numbers because many/most parents who post questions about Merit Aid state that they believe that they will not receive need-based aid. According to the Common Data Set, these amounts include both academic and talent awards.
If you are interested in need-based aid, you can do a similar analysis at College Data using the financial aid numbers. For example, schools at the bottom of the list may offer substantial need-based financial aid.
Ordering the List
I thought about various ways to present the data. I decided to list the schools according to “Net Cost After Award” based on the following simple formula:
Net Cost After Award = (Tuition) + (Room and Board) - (Average Merit Award)
I used this computation for ranking because some schools that give very large average merit awards also cost a relatively large of money (USC and Miami, for example). My conclusion was that, at the end of the day, a “bottom line” comparsion would be potentially most illustrative.
Here is an explanation of the data shown in the list:
Hopefully this data will help people form a more complete picture of the Merit Aid and MT program cost landscape.
To reiterate a point made at the beginning of this post, this analysis was focused on non-need based Merit Aid. If you qualify for Financial Aid, many schools offer very generous aid packages, and you can compare this using other data on College Data (dot com), as well as other sources.
Illinois Wesleyan should have been denoted as “VERY DIFFICULT” for academic admission.
USC should have been denoted as “MOST DIFFICULT” for academic admission.
The following public schools should have had “OOS” by their name: SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Buffalo, Oklahoma, Temple, UCF
Where did the merit aid numbers come from? (The one for CCPA seems high-ish? I mean, people don’t talk about FA much, so I could be wrong, but my impression is that lots of kids are getting less than $11,000.)
These are university-wide numbers. I would postulate that for schools with conservatories, especially those that charge a tuition uplift for the conservatory (such as Roosevelt), the merit-aid numbers might be less than the university as a whole. My theory would be that the conservatory tuition uplift implies an added cost/value vs. the university as whole and, therefore, they may be less inclined to offer non-need based merit aid to attract students. But that is just a theory…
EmsDad…you again have provided very helpful data based on research and compiling information. I know we all appreciate these contributions! Thank you!
I do wonder…if I may…how you have data on merit scholarships for Northwestern as I didn’t think they offer merit aid, but just offer need based aid. Also, with NYU (both Tisch and Steinhardt), to my knowledge, based on my own D’s scholarships and what others have also shared, including here on the MT Forum, their scholarships don’t separate out merit and need and are often a combination of both. Just wondering.
The common data set is a treasure trove of information. @Emsdad That was a lot of work to compile!
But like all data that one finds, make sure you ask the colleges for updates and to explain just who gets merit aid. In the case of NYU, the numbers are actually more highly skewed towards those that are in any of their talent based programs. So that 2.7% is probably a larger percentage than it seems for MT kids. There are some science and research rewards and a few awards for the highest achieving in academics and leadership (MLK), but the majority of NYU’s merit money goes to students in audition and portfolio programs (theatre, music, art, film, dance).
Same with Muhlenberg. MT kids can add to academic and leadership merit aid by auditioning for merit aid in talent areas–music, theatre, dance and art. So a strong academic student (with talent) can come closer to Muhlenberg’s maximum merit aid totals which I believe is around $21K ayear.
@soozievt: All of the data is supplied by colleges via the Common Data Set and posted at College Data.com. Here are the links to data for Northwestern and NYU:
@soozievt NYU does separate out merit and need. We learned that with my oldest D. She almost didn’t get any merit money from NYU even though the head of VP at Steinhardt had requested she get a merit scholarship. This is going back to 2008. D was granted a merit aid “academic” scholarship (non-need based) that was given out through the VP department. (In prior years there were merit scholarships for kids accepted into VP awarded for either academics or talent.) Heads of talent based programs allocate these non-need scholarships and it is from a different fund than money coming through the financial aid office to those with need. (Kids with need also can get merit aid, but it is from a different fund.)
When his request made it down to the financial aid office for processing, it was not put through because there was a change in funding and merit aid money for “academics” now had a need component. (This was a policy change which he was not made aware of.) He gave D that “academic” $ because she had high grades and was going to give the talent money to others. When we got no offer of scholarship with her acceptance, we contacted the department head (he had met with us in September after D had done their summer program, so we were hoping for a scholarship). He was unaware that the academic scholarship was bumped and found out that the only money available without need was now for talent only. Ultimately he petitioned the provost to get talent money for D (his allotment had been given out) and she was awarded $ right before May.
When younger D (art major) applied (2012), the policy was still the same. One pile of $ for students with need and a different (and smaller) pile of money given out in March through department heads (or committees) for talent.
EmsDad, I join everyone else in thanking you for this interesting analysis. Just want to point out that some schools–and I’ll use Otterbein as an example, since I know that one–do stack both merit and talent awards, and many (most? all?) performing majors get a talent award, bringing the cost down significantly in our case. Worth noting that additional variable.
This is the link that shows the (talent) scholarship (without need) that older D got. It is for Steinhardt in music and art. Tisch does not have listed any non-need based aid for either talent or academics, but I know students without need who have received it in the past. (Not sure what the deal is today.) These awards are only given out in the spring, so if you apply ED you are out of the running. Also the art department came right out and said that these scholarships are under some weird code name and that financial aid may not have information about them if you call to ask.
Also, the Scholars program that they mention came with merit aid many years ago, but neither D got any scholarship $ other than low-cost trips that were mainly funded by NYU.
Good work EmsDad. I just want to note that last year, Coastal Carolina did not stack merit and talent, and the student could opt to pick one. That may have changed this year.
Wow! Thank you so much for all of the effort you have put into this list @EmsDad. I’m sure all schools may have little variances from this data here and there depending on your student and circumstances, but this is a great way to put in some general perspective where different schools may fit on the total cost spectrum when comparing costs. Thanks so much!
@entertainersmom they have not changed it… they do not stack. However, if your state participates in Common Market there is a chance that you will get in-state tuition for MT and Physical Theatre… in fact most Common Market states will get in-state for Physical Theatre as there are only a few BFA programs in Physical Theatre out there. I know this an MT threat but just wanted to put out that information.
@momCares Actually the merit awards that @EmsDad has put up here are not athletic scholarships! Athletic scholarships have a category all of their own on the common data set
