Anonymous wrote:How does full pay work as far as merit goes? If you say in your application that you aren’t applying for financial aid, does that mean mean merit aid won’t be awarded? Sorry for the basic questions but I don’t know how it works.

Merit aid is given if the school wants to give merit aid. You fill in the FAFSA and the school knows if you can afford the school.

Anonymous wrote:My kid automatically got merit aid from a lot of schools for having a good ACT score

Must be poor or urm or both.

Anonymous wrote:Sharing this tip in case it can be of help to others: When our oldest received a (substantial) merit package from a school she attended we were surprised to learn we had to pay taxes on it.
Makes complete sense but it was not something I had anticipated come tax time.

This is taxable only if merit aid covers room/board, meals, airplane tickets, not tuition.

Sharing this tip in case it can be of help to others: When our oldest received a (substantial) merit package from a school she attended we were surprised to learn we had to pay taxes on it.
Makes complete sense but it was not something I had anticipated come tax time.

Anonymous wrote:^ it's not going to be just one school
np here

True, I think the question was in regards to the identification of the school as a "top LAC". There are many great colleges that provide generous merit aid but not as many that the DCUM and USNWR crowd would consider top-ranked.

Anonymous wrote:^ it's not going to be just one school
np here

Agree. The colleges all have algorithms that they use to calculate how much merit aid to offer, and in my DC's experience, they were remarkably consistent. My DC was offered merit aid from three private universities and they were all almost exactly the same net price. DC also get merit offers from three state schools and they were also very close.

^ it's not going to be just one school
np here

Anonymous wrote:Merit aid is just that: aid based on merit. It has nothing to do with financial need. I had a kid go to a top ranked LAC with a 50 percent tuition reduction and I never even filled out a financial aid form because at the time I was making $600k a year.

Grinnell?

It depends upon the school.

Most schools award merit scholarship money without any consideration of one's ability to pay.

Some "merit" scholarships are based on a combination of academic qualifications combined with a preference for those needing financial aid. I cannot recall any schools at this moment, but I come across this combination in both undergraduate and professional (law & MBA) schools.

Large Southern state universities often have a chart on the school website which will show the amount of scholarship one's numbers (GPA & SAT or ACT) will generate.

Williams, Amherst, the Ivies, MIT and some other top ranked schools have NO merit award, but a lot of need based financial aid if you qualify for the need based award. However, many schools give merit and need based financial aid. You can qualify for both, either one, or neither.

Being full pay does not impact merit. Merit is doled out by the school as a way to pump their freshman class statistics.

Merit aid is just that: aid based on merit. It has nothing to do with financial need. I had a kid go to a top ranked LAC with a 50 percent tuition reduction and I never even filled out a financial aid form because at the time I was making $600k a year.

My kid automatically got merit aid from a lot of schools for having a good ACT score

Your financial situation doesn’t affect merit. Still eligible.

How does full pay work as far as merit goes? If you say in your application that you aren’t applying for financial aid, does that mean mean merit aid won’t be awarded? Sorry for the basic questions but I don’t know how it works.