Yes, many smaller, perhaps less-known private colleges still offer academic merit aid of substantial value.
Mostly though, merit aid is academic in nature and if you have the grade, you get the aid.
It may make sense for the colleges: They are leveraging merit aid to compete for high-income and talented students.
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But they're less accurate at predicting need-based grant aid from colleges and don't predict merit aid well, says Mr. Kantrowitz.
That way, a school won't know what your top pick is and may be more likely to woo you with merit aid.
Less-swanky private and public schools are fighting price discrimination with price discrimination by using merit aid to buy students from the first tier.
This kind of financial aid is called academic merit aid, and few colleges offer it based just on grades and test scores alone.
So a school that offers no academic merit aid may still have scholarships available in niche areas, and you should ask about such possibilities.
Over the past decade or so, however, schools have adopted the habit of offering "merit aid" to students who don't necessarily need the money.
"Merit aid" is a polite way of saying they're buying students.
To get merit aid at some schools, you must first indicate that you want to be considered for financial aid and fill out lengthy financial aid forms.
In addition, even those earning too much to demonstrate need under aid formulas "expect to see some sort of merit aid, " unless the school is highly selective, said Trey Chappell, a college adviser in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Among colleges listed there with both a high percentage of students getting merit aid and a high average dollar amount of aid are Cooper Union (where tuition has historically been free), the University of Miami and Tulane.
Since a lot of merit aid awards are based on GPA, and typically the criteria is 3.75 or higher, the potential exists for the kid with the 3.71 to NOT have the grade, and NOT get the aid.
Send the results to the school's financial-aid office with a letter requesting more aid, and include any more-generous awards that other colleges provided or information on your financial situation that might merit more aid.
Merit-based aid comes into play when colleges, especially those out of the top tier, get into bidding wars for desirable students.
The school's financial counselors have shifted to a case-by-case approach to financial aid and to increasing the amount of merit-based scholarships available, she says.
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With a counselor's help, the school's financial-aid office pulled together enough assistance to keep him in the program, including a merit-based scholarship and assistance with federal loan applications.
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The merit will be doubled by the other lesson: the Religion flourishes in greater purity without, than with the aid of Government.
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