What to Know Now About Merit Aid

 

Scholarships are on the minds of most parents thinking about how to pay for college.

For many families, merit aid, awarded to a student for their academic or personal achievements, can be an important part of the college affordability equation.

Whether a student is submitting applications in the next week, or just starting out in 9th or 10th grade, there are a few things you should know about merit aid right now.

Read on for 3 keys to securing merit aid –

#1 Start With Your Colleges.

Students and families often think that the best way to gain scholarships is to conduct an online search and begin filling out scores of scholarship applications. While these kinds of scholarships can be a part of a student’s process, the most important place to start is with the colleges you are already considering or applying to. Go to the college’s financial aid website and review all of the available information about what we call “institutional aid,” merit aid and scholarships provided directly by the college to incoming students. Read the details to learn the eligibility requirements and identify opportunities that may be a good fit for your student, and how to apply. While students may be considered for some awards ‘automatically,’ simply by submitting their application, others will require additional steps. These steps may include financial aid applications, even if you think your family will not qualify for need-based financial aid, as well as additional applications, essays, recommendations, or interviews.

#2 Highly Selective Colleges Almost Never Award Merit Aid.

If your student is interested in ‘highly selective’ colleges, those with acceptance rates below 30% such as Ivies, prestigious flagship public universities, and highly selective liberal arts schools, these colleges rarely offer merit aid or scholarships to students. The reasons for this are several. Many of these colleges have prioritized investing their resources in need-based aid. They want to make their education affordable for families of all income levels, and thus many have adopted “100% need-met” financial aid policies. This means that when they review financial aid applications, they assess a family’s ability to pay. Even if that family’s estimated contribution to the education is $0, if admitted, the college will meet that student’s need fully through a combination of grants and loans. These policies create more diverse, equitable campuses, but for middle to high income families these policies generally mean that there are no merit-based aid opportunities. If your student is considering one of these colleges, you should not expect them to receive merit aid or merit scholarships, except for a few very rare, highly competitive academic & leadership awards. Instead, we recommend using the Net Price Calculator for the college to understand your estimated cost of attendance, and contacting the financial aid office if you have questions, especially if your student is considering the binding commitment of an Early Decision application.

The other reality is that these highly selective colleges do not need to offer merit awards to get students to enroll. They have almost endless numbers of applicants to choose from. If merit aid is important to your college affordability plan, research those opportunities, and consider adding selective or less-selective colleges to your student’s college list. Private colleges that accept 50% or more of applicants are more likely to offer merit scholarships as a way to sweeten the deal and encourage enrollment.

#3 Deadlines Matter, Read All The Fine Print.

Merit awards often have early or priority deadlines that require a student to submit their application by a certain date. This date is very often earlier than the regular decision application deadline and some come in the early fall. Carefully review all of the information on both the admission and financial aid web pages at your colleges to determine these deadlines and the requirements. In addition to submitting the college application early, families need to submit financial aid applications such as FAFSA and CSS Profile by the required deadlines, and students will often have additional application materials to complete including essays, recommendations, and scholarship application forms.

You can demystify paying for college… and we’re here to help:

If you’d like to learn more about how to navigate college affordability for your family, and how to find right-fit scholarships and institutional awards for your student, these tools are available, right at your fingertips!

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