Anonymous wrote:Definitely the latter. Merit awards are both competitive and holistic. Never just about stats.

Definitely not universally true. Many schools give automatic aid for applicants meeting certain gpa and/or sat/act scores. The schools that do post charts with the required stats and aid amounts on their websites, as OP described. One example: https://www.umw.edu/admissions/in-state-merit-scholarship/

My DS applied to a couple of these schools as safeties last year. U of AZ is one of them. The merit he was offered was very close to what was on the chart. I would say watch out for 2 things 1) the chart changes every year as finances at the school change so note the dates and 2) the GPA can literally go out to the 3rd decimal on your transcript which cost us about $20k over 4 years. It didnt matter in the end for my kid because he got into other schools he preferred but just something to be aware of. I saw posts on College Confidential that a lot of parents were disappointed that the merit changed but really they just had to look at the updates on the website.

No issue, was just curious. I don't have experience with applying and paying for college and it wasn't clear to me

^Also, they need to change 2025 to 2026.

Anonymous wrote:There wasn't any fine print that I found

Mary Washington... daughters counselor made it sound automatic, but that sounded too good to be true. Im wondering if the answer to my question is different depending on how competitive the school is

Website says "The awards shown above are for applicants who apply, are offered admission, and enroll for Fall 2025." That's automatic. This isn't surprising. Plenty of less-selective colleges offer automatic merit scholarships, so much so that they are sometimes referred to as merit discounts.

I would feel very confident that you can rely on the chart. What's the real issue with this? Is your student considering applying ED? You can always call and ask if you want to make sure she'd get the merit if admitted ED.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely depends on the school. At UVA, most are competitive - require essays and rec letters.

Right, but UVA probably doesn't have a chart with merit levels by stats, do they?

They are merit scholarships vs. merit aid. There is a chart with merit amount, minimum GPA, and other requirements, but they are competitive, not automatic.

Just apply and find out!

There wasn't any fine print that I found

Mary Washington... daughters counselor made it sound automatic, but that sounded too good to be true. Im wondering if the answer to my question is different depending on how competitive the school is

Anonymous wrote:Definitely depends on the school. At UVA, most are competitive - require essays and rec letters.

Right, but UVA probably doesn't have a chart with merit levels by stats, do they?

Definitely depends on the school. At UVA, most are competitive - require essays and rec letters.

If you are referring to the University of Alabama, those are automatic. What school are you looking at?

Anonymous wrote:Definitely the latter. Merit awards are both competitive and holistic. Never just about stats.

Some are automatic. It depends on the school. Like the PP suggested, need to read the fine print.

Definitely the latter. Merit awards are both competitive and holistic. Never just about stats.

The former, but I would read the fine print on the website to be sure.

If a school has a chart on it's website listing Merit Aid awards available, along with gpa and SAT criteria... would you assume that students would automatically be given those awards if they're eligible - or would it be something they COULD offer but its not given to everyone who's eligible?