Will Schools Match Merit Aid?

Has anyone had a personal experience or know of anyone that has had a college match the merit aid of another school or had merit aid increased once another school was mentioned? Can you please describe how it came about?

There’s a couple factors you have to consider.

  1. Some schools have very strict merit scholarship tiers. More objective vs at some schools it’s very subjective.
  1. Are the schools of the same caliber? You're not going to be able to take a merit aid offer from Whittier College and get USC to match it

@philbegas - Thanks for your reply. I understand all of what you have mention. I have heard that this has been done but don’t know any of the details so I’m hoping someone that knows more can share their knowledge.

There are no “tricks” to it. Providing a written copy of the merit aid offer from a peer college would be necessary. If it a few thousand dollar difference it may happen, if it is $20,000 more then it likely will not happen.

On one of your other threads you said your son is a junior and you think W&M is the best fit for him. Is that because he’s an athlete? Are you planning to try to use an offer from UVA to get a lower net cost at W&M? I think those types of negotiations only work at peer schools. I’m not sure they work for athletes though.

First of all, the desired school has to have the extra money to give…some don’t or won’t.

I’ve helped many get add’l merit, but usually the school that gave the more merit has to be a peer school.

If you ask for more merit, then you need to be prepared to accept and deposit. Schools don’t want to waste time on people who are just “shopping”.

Which school do you want to match?

@austinmshauri - I think William and Mary would be a good fit for my son both academically both academically and athletically but it’s still early on. UVA would be a good fit academically but maybe not athletically. My son is a junior and so it’s too early to know what all the offers will.

My question was more of a general question about schools.and what they might consider. I don’t think my son would not qualify for merit aid at W&M or UVA.

@mom2collegekids - Thanks for your post ^ about being ready to commit if the offer is matched.

Mom2 is correct: You have to be prepared to say that if College A will match B’s offer, we are in.

Hi! Our daughter wants to go to Loyola Marymount University. They only gave her $5000 in merit aid. Do you think they would be willing to match other merit aid offers she has received? They range from $16k (USF), $19k St. Mary’s, & $25k (University of Portland). Our daughter really wants to go there, but we will need a match from LMU and we are willing to commit and put down a deposit. Any insight is much appreciated.

Probably not. Each school has its own criteria for awarding merit aid.

But go ahead and ask.

What you will need to do is look at the requirements at each school for their scholarship

For LMU to “match” St. Mary’s of U of P, your daughter would have had to receive the the following:

LMU states on their page their scholarships and how they are given. They do not have a 16K scholarship. They do not have a 19k Scholarship

their other big scholarships are 12k and 25k respectively. For whatever reason, your daughter did not merit any of LMU’s big scholarships. LMU has no reason or will not necessarily care what another school gave her as merit money.

<<<<
daughter wants to go to Loyola Marymount University. They only gave her $5000 in merit aid. Do you think they would be willing to match other merit aid offers she has received? They range from $16k (USF), $19k St. Mary’s, & $25k (University of Portland). Our daughter really wants to go there, but we will need a match from LMU and we are willing to commit and put down a deposit. Any insight is much appreciated.
GPA: 3.95 ACT: 26
<<<

Extremely unlikely that LMU would triple-plus your daughter’s aid. They won’t likely even double it.

Frankly, if your DD was only given $5k in merit, likely her stats aren’t high for the school. If that’s the case, the school is reserving its limited larger awards for those with top stats.

Edit…The upper 25% of LMU freshman have an ACT 30+. Your DD’s test scores are average for the school. There wouldn’t be any motivation for them to increase her merit. If your student had an ACT 30+ and was given a small merit award, then the school might be motivated to increase her merit to “poach” her from another school.

Merit is used to “purchase” students with top test scores.

Your DD’s stats may be considered “high” for those other schools.