Which LACs give a lot of "merit aid"?

[Anonymous]

A little further down the rankings and hard to get to from the DC area, but adding Whitman to the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which LACs give a lot of merit aid, not only need-based aid. My DC has high stats but wants small classes, but we can't justify paying $70K a year for a small LAC and we won't qualify for any aid.

Ideally looking for $20+K in aid ... are there any LACs who provide $20K and more to high performing students? Can you share your experiences?

The top LACs (T15ish) that are worth the 70-90k a year do not give merit broadly. A few give a very small number of true merit to very top kids. The ones that give lots of merit, ie more than 15% of the incoming class, are schools trying to buy students: they are in danger of not filling seats and the “merit” is really just a sale price as one does to move a less desired good at a store.
You are better off sending your student to the top school they can get into. If you do not qualify for beed based aid then you make at least 200k and can well afford the in-state flagship and if you had saved properly the 70-90k of a private.

I love you say you can just go to in-state flagship like it is a given. The competition to get into UVA from some of the NOVA HSs is brutal.

I also love how everyone says that on a board where so many live in the District and have no in-state flagship.

ODU and the $10k-15k credit offered by Congress OOS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Focus on these LACs - GIVE MERIT AID:
Macalester
Occidental
Colorado College
Kenyon
Grinnell
Oberlin
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Scripps
St. Olaf

SKIP these LACs that give NO MERIT AID:
Swarthmore
Reed
Carleton
Bowdoin
Williams
Vassar
Wesleyan
Pitzer
Pomona
Harvey Mud
Claremont McKenna

Beware. Occidental is offering a $15k “Occidental Commitment Scholarship” to anyone who will ED because it is desperate to boost its yield because there were not enough qualified candidates to fill last fall’s class. The school reacted with cost cutting measures across the board and new marketing gimmicks in admissions - the “Occidental College Commitment Scholarship” was one such move announced in November to work to guarantee a full class. https://www.oxy.edu/about-oxy/college-leadership/presidents-office/community-messages/falls-incoming-first-year-class

[Anonymous]

We used the Buyers and Sellers list to start our search last year and ended up with significant aid at Dickinson as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Focus on these LACs - GIVE MERIT AID:
Macalester
Occidental
Colorado College
Kenyon
Grinnell
Oberlin
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Scripps
St. Olaf

SKIP these LACs that give NO MERIT AID:
Swarthmore
Reed
Carleton
Bowdoin
Williams
Vassar
Wesleyan
Pitzer
Pomona
Harvey Mud
Claremont McKenna

Add Lewis & Clark in Portland - offered my TO, 3.8uw GPA DC $35k in merit aid, guaranteed for 4 years

[Anonymous]

Furman, Dickinson, Denver, Sewanee

[Anonymous]

Kenyon and Grinnell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Focus on these LACs - GIVE MERIT AID:
Macalester
Occidental
Colorado College
Kenyon
Grinnell
Oberlin
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Scripps
St. Olaf

SKIP these LACs that give NO MERIT AID:
Swarthmore
Reed
Carleton
Bowdoin
Williams
Vassar
Wesleyan
Pitzer
Pomona
Harvey Mud
Claremont McKenna

Beware. Occidental is offering a $15k “Occidental Commitment Scholarship” to anyone who will ED because it is desperate to boost its yield because there were not enough qualified candidates to fill last fall’s class. The school reacted with cost cutting measures across the board and new marketing gimmicks in admissions - the “Occidental College Commitment Scholarship” was one such move announced in November to work to guarantee a full class. https://www.oxy.edu/about-oxy/college-leadership/presidents-office/community-messages/falls-incoming-first-year-class

Lots of schools are doing similar things to try to boost yield. Every LAC other than the top 10 or so are fighting for good students who are willing to pay $50k-$60k per year. Even Grinnell, which is ranked near the top 10, promises merit aid if you apply ED. Occidental is in no danger of closing any time soon.

And literally every school is implementing austerity measures right now. DH works at Princeton and it’s happening there in a big way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Focus on these LACs - GIVE MERIT AID:
Macalester
Occidental
Colorado College
Kenyon
Grinnell
Oberlin
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Scripps
St. Olaf

SKIP these LACs that give NO MERIT AID:
Swarthmore
Reed
Carleton
Bowdoin
Williams
Vassar
Wesleyan
Pitzer
Pomona
Harvey Mud
Claremont McKenna

Claremont McKenna does give merit aid: https://www.cmc.edu/admission/scholarships

So does Harvey Mudd: https://www.hmc.edu/admission/afford/scholarships-and-grants/merit-based-scholarships/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which LACs give a lot of merit aid, not only need-based aid. My DC has high stats but wants small classes, but we can't justify paying $70K a year for a small LAC and we won't qualify for any aid.

Ideally looking for $20+K in aid ... are there any LACs who provide $20K and more to high performing students? Can you share your experiences?

The top LACs (T15ish) that are worth the 70-90k a year do not give merit broadly. A few give a very small number of true merit to very top kids. The ones that give lots of merit, ie more than 15% of the incoming class, are schools trying to buy students: they are in danger of not filling seats and the “merit” is really just a sale price as one does to move a less desired good at a store.
You are better off sending your student to the top school they can get into. If you do not qualify for beed based aid then you make at least 200k and can well afford the in-state flagship and if you had saved properly the 70-90k of a private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of the Top 40 National Liberal Arts Colleges (U.S. News), along with the Percent Receiving Merit Aid (Freshmen w/o Need) and Average Merit Award (Freshmen w/o Need) from the College Transitions (https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid).

CORRECTED LIST

Williams College — 0% — $0

Amherst College — 0% — $0

United States Naval Academy — 0% — $0

Swarthmore College — 0.01% — N/A

Bowdoin College — 2% — $1,000

United States Air Force Academy — 0% — $0

Claremont McKenna College — 8% — $23,300

Pomona College — 0% — $0

Wellesley College — 0% — $0

Carleton College — 2% — $15,761

Harvey Mudd College — 17% — $10,457

United States Military Academy — 0% — $0

Barnard College — 0% — $0

Davidson College — 3% — $41,262

Grinnell College — 23% — $26,154

Hamilton College — 0% — $0

Middlebury College — 0.2% — $5,000

Smith College — 4% — $23,348

Vassar College — 0% — $0

Wesleyan University — 0.1% — $20,553

Washington and Lee University — 4% — $59,826

Colgate University — 0% — $0

University of Richmond — 13% — $51,205

Bates College — 0% — $0

Colby College — 0.3% — $2,000

Haverford College — 0% — $0

College of the Holy Cross — 9% — $24,796

Macalester College — 36% — $18,937

Mount Holyoke College — 17% — $25,303

Bryn Mawr College — 17% — $5,438

Bucknell University — 9% — $19,010

Colorado College — 8% — $12,776

Lafayette College — 20% — $19,371

Denison University — 35% — $18,758

Franklin & Marshall College — 25% — $19,876

Occidental College — 29% — $17,397

Pitzer College — 2% — $7,000

Scripps College — 15% — $24,048

Skidmore College — 0.3% — $20,000

Soka University of America — 9% — $7,917

Spelman College — 3% — $25,840

Trinity College — 8% — $23,543

Trinity University — 50% — $27,801

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

It is still odd to me that the service academies are ranked with the SLACs. But since they are, the zeros are misleading. Each student not only gets free room and board but is paid to attend. As well they should be.

USNWR does grouping by Carnegie Classification and they are the academies are there because they lack graduate programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which LACs give a lot of merit aid, not only need-based aid. My DC has high stats but wants small classes, but we can't justify paying $70K a year for a small LAC and we won't qualify for any aid.

Ideally looking for $20+K in aid ... are there any LACs who provide $20K and more to high performing students? Can you share your experiences?

The top LACs (T15ish) that are worth the 70-90k a year do not give merit broadly. A few give a very small number of true merit to very top kids. The ones that give lots of merit, ie more than 15% of the incoming class, are schools trying to buy students: they are in danger of not filling seats and the “merit” is really just a sale price as one does to move a less desired good at a store.
You are better off sending your student to the top school they can get into. If you do not qualify for beed based aid then you make at least 200k and can well afford the in-state flagship and if you had saved properly the 70-90k of a private.

I love you say you can just go to in-state flagship like it is a given. The competition to get into UVA from some of the NOVA HSs is brutal.

I also love how everyone says that on a board where so many live in the District and have no in-state flagship.

ODU and the $10k-15k credit offered by Congress OOS

ODU is an R1. Students seeking an affordable LAC reasonably close to the DMV should look at the University of Maryland Washington (a Virginia state school) or St. Mary’s College of Maryland (a Maryland state school). DC residents have their pick, as the OOS markup at both schools is less than DCTAG.

[Anonymous]

Agnes Scott (#67 liberal arts) gives merit aid to 100% of students, the higher the GPA the larger the amount. $25k to $30k.

They also give out the “Atlanta Grant” to all students that don’t live in Georgia. $3k a year.

Finally we got $2k a year additional merit just by attending a VIRTUAL admitted students day event.

If you have a daughter and are chasing merit, I strongly suggest applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which LACs give a lot of merit aid, not only need-based aid. My DC has high stats but wants small classes, but we can't justify paying $70K a year for a small LAC and we won't qualify for any aid.

Ideally looking for $20+K in aid ... are there any LACs who provide $20K and more to high performing students? Can you share your experiences?

This may be an obvious question but is merit aid more often awarded to RD than ED applicants? We are in the same boat as OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which LACs give a lot of merit aid, not only need-based aid. My DC has high stats but wants small classes, but we can't justify paying $70K a year for a small LAC and we won't qualify for any aid.

Ideally looking for $20+K in aid ... are there any LACs who provide $20K and more to high performing students? Can you share your experiences?

Top ones give 0$ merit money but they are generous with need based aid. Ours said no to them as total cost of attendance for four years was >$400k.