Did you know that the most important factor impacting whether a student receives merit scholarships is the list of colleges that they apply to?

It’s true! While strong academics and achievements matter, your college list plays a crucial role in determining how much merit aid you’ll receive. Some schools offer generous scholarships to attract students, while others—especially highly selective institutions—offer little to no merit aid at all.

We are bringing you a 3-part series to help you navigate the college search with merit scholarships in mind. To start with, let’s dive into some myths and realities.

Understanding Financial Aid & Merit Scholarships

“Financial aid” is an umbrella term that covers two types of aid:

• Need-based aid – Determined by a student’s financial situation based on the FAFSA and/or CSS Profile. This includes grants, work-study, and loans, and need-based scholarships.
  
  
• Merit-based aid – Awarded based on academic performance, extracurricular involvement, talent, or athletics.

Merit scholarships fall into two main categories:

1. Institutional Merit Scholarships – These are awarded directly by colleges and can only be used at that specific school. Some schools offer automatic merit scholarships based on GPA and test scores, while others require separate applications or additional steps (interviews, scholarship days, etc).
   
   
2. 3rd Party / Outside Merit Scholarships – These come from local, regional, or national organizations (e.g., Rotary Clubs, private foundations, or corporations). Some outside scholarships can be applied to any college, while others are tied to specific institutions (e.g., alumni club scholarships).
   

Myth-Busting: The Truth About Merit Scholarships

Myth: A student with a high GPA and high test scores is likely to get a full scholarship

Reality: Full-ride merit scholarships are extremely competitive.

Take Ohio State University’s Stamps Eminence Scholarship, for example (full cost of attendance):

• Requires honors program acceptance, a separate Eminence essay, and a video introduction.
• Finalists are selected based on the strength of their Common Application, a separate essay and a video introduction. Selections are based on outstanding academic potential, demonstrated commitment to service, and character.
• Finalists must interview and participate in a full-day, immersive event on campus
• In the OSU class of 2028, 36 students out of 700 scholarship applicants (5%) and 70,028 applicants to OSU (.05%) were awarded the scholarship. This was the highest number of Eminence awards given in OSU history

Ohio State’s other full scholarship is the Morrill Scholarship, which offers 3 levels of awards: Distinction (full cost of attendance), Prominence (full tuition + out-of-state fee), and Excellence (full tuition for in-state students):

• Requires a separate essay and demonstrated leadership in service and social justice (Note: the Morrill scholarship will be changing starting in Fall of 2025, but criteria is still to be determined)
• Finalists for the Distinction award must interview.
• Exact numbers of Morrill Scholars are not publicized, but they award approximately 300 each year (4% of all applicants to OSU), with 25-40 receiving Distinction (8-13% of scholarship winners; .03-.06% of all applicants to OSU)
  

Myth: Ivy League schools offer merit scholarships.

Reality: Ivy League schools only provide need-based aid.

Families often seem to know somebody who knows somebody who got a full ride - “my neighbor’s cousin got a full ride to Penn”. They may have received need-based aid, or some outside scholarships, but Penn did not award them a full merit scholarship. No Ivy League college awards merit-based scholarships, and many other highly selective colleges offer little to no merit aid. Your “merit award” at these schools is simply getting accepted!

Myth: There are millions of unclaimed scholarships just waiting to be used.

Reality: There are outside scholarships available, but not millions of dollars that are unclaimed.

Third party / outside scholarships should be viewed as a bonus, not a primary strategy for funding college. Many of the “unclaimed” scholarships have extremely specific criteria and/or very cumbersome applications. Most 3rd party scholarships are smaller amounts around $2,000 or less and not renewable. While some larger and/or renewable scholarships exist, they are often very competitive.

These scholarships take a lot of time and effort to apply to. Seniors who are already spending a huge amount of hours on schoolwork, extracurriculars, jobs, and college applications often don’t have time, energy, or motivation to complete additional applications. They may submit 50–100 applications and receive just one award, so families should weigh the balance of time spent vs. possible payoff.

Myth: “We’ll figure out costs later—I know our child will get scholarships.”

Reality: Early awareness and planning are key.

If merit scholarships are an important part of your college search, it must be considered at the list-building phase. You may need to shift your priorities regarding prestige or specific colleges. You should also research and be aware of colleges’ policies regarding merit scholarships and the likelihood of actually receiving one. We will share more information about list-building in part two.

Re-Framing Merit Scholarships

In order to truly understand “behind the scenes” of merit scholarships awarding, it helps to shift your thinking and re-frame what merit scholarships actually are. They are not simply a reward for having good grades or exceptional talent. They are a tuition discount used to attract students that will help the college meet their goals; goals such as increasing rankings and/or average stats by enrolling high stats students, fulfilling needs on a sports team, maintaining or increasing student involvement in music or the arts, attracting students in specific majors, or other priorities.

Some colleges do not need to offer discounts to attract students; their application pools are overflowing with more students than they can possibly admit, most of which would help them reach their goals. They tend to focus their financial aid awards on students with financial need and offer little to no merit aid; those that do offer some tend to reserve it for truly extraordinary applicants.

Some colleges are not overwhelmed with applications and are working hard to recruit students; it is not a reflection of the education they offer but rather just a reflection of the number of applicants they have. These are the colleges that use merit scholarships as discounts to attract students to apply and attend.

For additional information about this, check out Jeff Selingo’s Buyers and Sellers.

Now that we have a peek behind the curtains of the business of merit scholarships, stay tuned for Part 2: List-Building Tips and Part 3: 3rd Party / Outside Scholarships!