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[quote=Anonymous]It is highly variable across colleges. But a few rules of thumb... Merit is mainly a tool to help schools compete for good students so highly competitive schools don't give it, except for a few very highly competitive awards.  So, you are most likely to get good merit from a school where you are above the average admitted student stats. You don't get merit from a reach (unless it's a school that pretty much gives it to everyone). Public schools in more desirable areas don't give merit, those that want to attract students do (e.g. CA schools do not give merit aid but West Virginia, Alabama, Iowa, Maine, etc. do).

My DS is now at VT (no merit) but did get enough aid at schools like University of Delaware and Miami (Ohio) to bring the price down into the mid-$30s (still more expensive than VT).

DD wants to go to a small college. Her list right now is a range of LACs with acceptance rates in the range of 50%-80% whose net price calculators say should end up costing us in the range of $25k-$40k (vs. sticker prices in the range of $60k-$75k). All competitive in price to her in-state options of UMW (safety) and W&M (reach).

It can be challenging to figure out because not all colleges include a merit estimation in their net price calculator (if they don't ask for GPA/test scores they likely aren't estimating that). But, you can get a sense by going to the school's Common Data Set and find the page that shows how many students without financial need got grants and what the average amount was.

There's also a long thread on College Confidential about schools that give good merit aid. But, be sure to look at the more current postings. Some schools that used to give a lot of merit as a tool to attract better students succeed in that goal, have become more competitive, and no longer give as much (e.g. Pitt, Northeastern)

To really understand how the pricing game is played, I recommend reading "The Price You Pay For College" by Ron Lieber[/quote]

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