Merit?

[Anonymous]

Do kids from this area get merit aid at top 50 private schools?
I know the top 15 give no or almost no merit at all. But does dropping down a tad (like to Carnegie Mellon, Boston College, Lehigh, Case Western, Wake Forest, Richmond, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Skidmore, etc) increase chances for merit?
I don't put a ton of stock in the rankings but schools like those seem to have some good academic opportunities.
There are some great public universities that are affordable and would probably work for my other kids but for my introvert, we're hoping for a school that's not too big, if there are any where the price tag could drop to $50k or less with merit aid. (No need-based aid for us even with a middle-class income and 3 kids).
Would love to hear your anecdotes! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

There are no magic formulas for merits. Schools use to advance their own institutional priorities whatever that could be. For many less desirable located schools, high GPAs/test scores are often used but others it could be your musical instrument or artistic ability.

[Anonymous]

Skidmore gives need-based aid.

You can find this information in the common data sets for each school. You can Google Name of School + common data set and find the information listed under "non-need based aid."

[Anonymous]

Thank you. Yes, true. I am wondering if anyone knows kids who have actually gotten merit from any schools like this, and a little about the experience. I know 1 kid who got a music scholarship from Wake Forest (after playing not just in school but also with private organizations) but don't know of any others so it seems like it's rare for kids in this area.

[Anonymous]

are you instate for Virginia? If so W&M would be perfect if she has the stats to
get in.

[Anonymous]

Look at undergrads w/out need column:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid

[Anonymous]

For any school you are interested in, look at the CDS. Will give you numbers on admitted freshman with merit (although it does not give the amount.)
Yes, totally doable at $50k, but you need to apply widely and have a lot of safeties, since a place that is a safety for admission is not necessarily a safety in terms of getting enough merit to afford it. Also recommend applying in-state in case it doesn't work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For any school you are interested in, look at the CDS. Will give you numbers on admitted freshman with merit (although it does not give the amount.)
Yes, totally doable at $50k, but you need to apply widely and have a lot of safeties, since a place that is a safety for admission is not necessarily a safety in terms of getting enough merit to afford it. Also recommend applying in-state in case it doesn't work out.

Or just use above link, which has done it all for you and is searchable by school.
But to save the suspense: Wake and Richmond are promising, BC is not, and Holy Cross is somewhere in between.

[Anonymous]

Case gave lots of merit. DC got 40k per year without filling any form.

[Anonymous]

UMiami, UDenver

[Anonymous]

You are not middle class if you can afford $50k. You’d get financial aid if you were.

[Anonymous]

My senior got $35k per year of merit aid from Case Western, which brings the cost to just over $50k for next year. He had very good grades, scores, etc., but wasn’t otherwise exceptional. Just a really good student, like many MCPS kids.
He also got a lot of merit aid from Pitt, and got into the Honors College there.
I will say that even with merit aid, Case was still more expensive than UMD (even with no merit aid).

[Anonymous]

Our kid received merit from Case, Pitt, Fordham. And half tuition merit from Lehigh. So yes.

[Anonymous]

Yes, dropping down a tad gives merit to many, sometimes considerable. DD didn’t apply to any of the schools you mention but did apply to several that are similarly ranked and saw some nice merit offers.

Won’t be true for all — Skidmore doesn’t give merit, for example as a PP said. But will be true for many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For any school you are interested in, look at the CDS. Will give you numbers on admitted freshman with merit (although it does not give the amount.)
Yes, totally doable at $50k, but you need to apply widely and have a lot of safeties, since a place that is a safety for admission is not necessarily a safety in terms of getting enough merit to afford it. Also recommend applying in-state in case it doesn't work out.

Or just use above link, which has done it all for you and is searchable by school.
But to save the suspense: Wake and Richmond are promising, BC is not, and Holy Cross is somewhere in between.

Per their own websites, Wake gives merit aid to less than 3% of first-year applicants and Richmond gives merit aid to 10% of incoming freshman, so not particularly promising.