Building affordability with college merit aid
When a student isn’t eligible for need-based financial aid, merit scholarships awarded by a college can be a significant way to reduce costs and build affordability. Merit scholarships are awarded primarily through the admissions process as an incentive for students to enroll, with no criteria around need.
How to measure a college’s merit generosity
There are two ways to understand a college’s generosity with merit aid: 1) the number of students receiving merit scholarships and 2) the size of these awards.
The number of awards
Colleges vary widely in how many merit scholarships they give out, with colleges that offer no merit scholarships on one end and colleges that award every admit a merit discount.
The DATA: Colleges publish the percentage of students who do not qualify for need-based aid and still receive a merit scholarship. This can be found in the column % Receiving Merit Awards.
A student seeking merit aid can understand that the chances of receiving a scholarship from Boston College (3%) are highly unlikely, from Northeastern (41%) are possible, and from Fairfield (92%) are certainly guaranteed.
The size of the award
It’s critical to understand the amount of the scholarship that a college may offer to ensure that it’s enough to make the Net Price affordable.
THE DATA: Colleges publish the average merit scholarship received by non-need students. This can be found in the column Ave Merit Award. It’s also helpful to understand what percentage of the cost of attendance the average merit scholarship covers. This can be found in the column % Merit to COA.
While a student admitted to both DePauw and Denison would reliably receive a merit scholarship in the admissions process, there is a significant difference in the award amount. DePauw’s average scholarship of $37,448 covers nearly 50% of the cost of attendance, whereas Denison’s average scholarship of $19,426 covers just above 20%.
College Data from the 2024-25 Common Data Set
Use this online database to explore colleges’ generosity with merit-based aid.
Tips:
- FILTER: When using the Filter for Region or State column, choose the is any of option to select multiple Regions or States.
- INFO ICON: The info icon next to the column name provides a more detailed description of the data presented.
- DOWNLOAD: To download a copy, click on the 3 dots and select Export to CSV. It will save the file with any changes you’ve made. Note: I don’t recommend downloading to Excel, because it will convert the number fields, like percents and dollars, to text fields.