I will let you know at once if at any point your performance would merit a grade below c.

如果你表现的任何一点会得到低于C的成绩，我会马上让你知道。

youdao

In college, I won the third-grade scholarship for two consecutive times and was awarded such titles as "Merit Student" and "Excellent League …

在大学期间，我连续两次获得三等奖学金，还获得过三好学生，…

youdao

Mostly though, merit aid is academic in nature and if you have the grade, you get the aid.

FORBES: Save For Retirement Now, Get More College Aid Later

Some states and districts are looking to adopt a system like the one in Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, where the district created exams for every subject at every grade five years ago in an effort to award merit pay to teachers.

WSJ: Teacher Evaluations Pose Test for States

Not that I'm necessarily equating the two in terms of literary merit, but I remember when I discovered "The Hardy Boys" in fifth or sixth grade: After reading the first book, I was so smitten I begged my parents to buy me the remaining fortysomething volumes for my birthday.

WSJ: The Historian's Stories