We are living in a golden age of merit aid for college. While the average tuition is higher now than it was 30 years ago, scholarship requirements are much more frequently quantifiable and transparent. Hundreds of colleges provide easily accessible, guaranteed information, meaning students have less guesswork to do.
Before we get to merit aid grids, a few quick truths:
- High grades and test scores are the two variables that most merit aid grids are based upon.
- The vast majority of the merit aid that your student will ever receive comes straight from the college itself. Only 5% of all scholarships come from private scholarships; the rest comes from the colleges themselves. It is easier for colleges to lop off a portion of the sticker price (well into the five figures per year!) than for a student to cobble together tiny one-time scholarships from the Rotary and other organizations, most of which require lengthy essays and applications and hundreds of applicants per winner.
- If you have stellar scores or a niche that makes it easier to compete (e.g. Eagle Scout-specific scholarships or Girl Scout Gold Award scholarships), those are likely still worthwhile to apply to due to how narrow the potential applicant pool is.
- Some popular scholarships might get 1,000 applicants for just two winning spots of $500. In these cases, you would absolutely earn more dollars per hour babysitting, mowing lawns, or the like!
Merit Aid Grids and how they clarify college costs
Merit aid grids are either one-dimensional or two dimensional tables or graphs published by universities. They relate a student’s GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and a possible scholarship, provided you meet the metrics. (Need-based aid is not included on this site.) Hundreds of colleges publish and update their grids every year to entice applicants with the kind of discounted prices they can expect.
For example, at Auburn University, the same GPA (a 3.5) is required for all levels of merit aid, with ACT scores (or the equivalent SAT scores) determining the final merit aid award. An out-of-state student with an ACT score of 28.25 (one question below the cutoff for receiving merit aid) could fix roughly 24 of the ACT questions they missed in order to score a 33, earning $60,000—or $2,500 per additional correct test question!
Students do not need perfect test scores or academic grades to earn these scholarships. At the University of Missouri, a GPA of 3.8 and ACT of 25 earns students $34,000 over four years. A 3.85 and a top 10% ACT would be over $80,000!
Some universities’ merit aid grids don’t even have test score requirements, just a raw GPA: the University of Arizona’s merit aid grid starts off with no SAT/ACT score requirement and a deafeningly-low 3.00 GPA.
And of course, Georgia’s most popular merit aid grid is the Zell Miller HOPE Scholarship, which has one simple row: get a 3.7 GPA and a 1200 SAT or 25 ACT for 100% tuition. Bright Futures in Florida has 24 ACT / 1190 SAT / 3.0 GPA or 29 ACT / 1330 SAT / 3.5 GPA for its two eligibility levels.
An important note on income-based aid:
Many schools with decent endowments are now continuously attempting to outdo each other in offering amazing aid policies for families under a certain income that even goes into the six figures for a few schools! For example, Vanderbilt University typically covers full tuition for anyone with a household income under $150K. Others have lower thresholds: Colgate University’s is $80K; University of Michigan’s is $75K; Rutgers University’s is $65K; and Brown University’s is $60K.