The Schools That Don't Provide Merit Scholarships

Why these 24 elite institutions don’t give out merit awards

Institutions that score extremely high in U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings don’t have to try as hard to attract top students.

So many wealthy students want to attend these highly rated schools that paying full price won’t discourage them. Because of this strong demand, these institutions can fill their freshmen classes each year without enticing well-off students with merit scholarships.

High-income students who attend elite research universities and the most highly ranked liberal arts colleges will usually pay full price or close to it. This reality can pose a dilemma if a family doesn’t qualify for financial aid, but parents haven’t saved enough to pay for an elite school that can cost $75,000 and up!

The Bottom Line...

Families who won’t qualify for need-based aid and can’t or won’t pay a prohibitive price for a highly ranked college, should expand their search and look for schools that will provide many affluent students with merit scholarships.

The vast majority of colleges and universities fall into this category.

About The Author

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is a nationally recognized college expert, who is a higher-ed journalist, speaker and educator.

Lynn focuses on educating high school counselors, college consultants and financial advisors, who need to understand how they can assist families with evaluating their choices and bringing their college costs down.

Prior to focusing on college issues, she was a veteran financial journalist who wrote for many consumer and financial industry publications such as Forbes, Money and Bloomberg publications.

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