Scholarships 101 Part 1: Merit-Based Aid
When I used to hear about someone winning scholarship money, my mind would go to the headlines of teenagers who won hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for college. I always assumed these were scholarships awarded by corporations and organizations. And, while that picture is true of some scholarships, I’ve learned that the majority of scholarship money is actually awarded directly by colleges!
What does the term scholarship refer to?
The reality is that when someone says scholarship, they can be talking about many different forms of money awarded for college. These are the most common types of scholarships and where they come from:
Awarded by the federal government
Pell-Grants: A maximum of $7,395 in need-based grant money where eligibility is determined by completing the FAFSA
Awarded by individual colleges
Need-based aid: Grant money awarded by colleges based on family financial factors determined by completion of the FAFSA and/or CSS Profile.
Merit-based aid: Scholarship money awarded by colleges based on any number of factors that may include GPA, SAT/ACT scores, or factors that are not made public.
Athletic Scholarships: Money awarded to athletes.
Special Scholarships: Money awarded to students possessing a specific talent, skill, or area of study at a college.
ROTC Scholarships
Scholarship money that is awarded by the military in exchange for service upon graduation.
Community Organization & Corporate Scholarships
Money that is awarded by an outside institution for which students go through a separate application process.
In Part 1 of Scholarships 101, I’m diving into the most common form of scholarship money awarded to students outside of need-based aid… merit aid awarded by colleges and universities. In many cases, especially at smaller private colleges, the majority of students receive some amount of merit aid. This isn’t always straightforward or well-defined and you might be asking “How can I figure it out?”
How to determine if a college awards merit scholarships
Review the College’s Website
If there are scholarships that need separate applications, they will be listed on the website with other application information for freshmen. If the school has a formula for how they award merit scholarships, a chart with GPA requirements is sometimes available online.
Run the Net Price Calculator
For schools that use a set formula to determine merit aid, running the net price calculator will give you an indication of the cost of college after aid is applied.
Review the College’s Common Data Set
If you google the name of the college + “common data set” you may find a file in PDF or Excel format that provides a lot of basic data about admissions, enrollment, graduate outcomes, and financial aid. Analyzing “Section H. Financial Aid” of an individual institution’s common data set can shed some light on what percentage of students receive merit aid and what the average award amount is.
Just Ask!
When you visit a college or meet with an admissions counselor at an event, ask them if their institution awards merit scholarships, how common they are, and what the average amount is.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when trying to determine your potential for merit aid at an individual college:
The amount of merit aid varies greatly at each college so you’ll need to research each college of interest
Merit aid is more common at private colleges
Merit aid is less common at highly selective colleges
Students may automatically be considered for merit aid when they submit their college application or they may need to submit a separate application for school-specific scholarships
For schools that automatically consider students for merit aid, many ask that you apply by their early action deadline to have the best chance at being awarded money.
Have a question about merit-aid? Send me an email at nikihaubner@deliberatelydesignedllc.com or join me in our private Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/deliberatelydesigned