{"id":10488,"date":"2019-04-19T13:01:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T19:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/?p=10488"},"modified":"2019-10-31T10:00:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T16:00:32","slug":"how-colleges-determine-merit-scholarship-awards-how-students-are-selected-and-how-money-amount-is-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-colleges-determine-merit-scholarship-awards-how-students-are-selected-and-how-money-amount-is-set\/","title":{"rendered":"How Colleges Determine Merit Scholarship Awards: How Students are Selected and How Money Amount is Set"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the exciting day comes for students to receive their acceptance letters from colleges and universities, many contain a dollar amount that the student will receive as a merit-based admissions scholarship. Many students will also receive financial aid, but the approval process for financial aid comes with fewer questions, as there are national standards for determining who receives financial aid and a universal application\u2013<\/span>the FAFSA<\/span><\/a>. Merit <\/span>scholarships<\/span><\/a> however, are nuanced and the selection process and awards vary from school to school. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach school has their own criteria that they use [to determine eligibility for merit scholarships], but the way that we do it at Pacific is we look at the student\u2019s high school GPA. We also look at student\u2019s test scores, so either ACT or SAT test scores,\u201d said Leslie Limper, Director of Financial Aid at <\/span>Pacific University<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pacific University uses a very straightforward method of determining merit scholarship eligibility. The combination of an admitted student\u2019s GPA and test scores are put into a formula that breaks students who meet scholarship levels down into five different scholarship levels: increments of $12,000, $15,000, $18,000, $21,000, and $24,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pacific University is a small, private, four-year institution rooted in the traditional liberal arts and sciences. Contrast this with <\/span>Duquesne University<\/span><\/a>, which is a slightly larger, private, four-year Catholic university in Philadelphia. While the schools are fairly similar in structure, Duquesne has a different approach to merit scholarships.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about doing research to find out how much money you have to give certain subsets of students to enroll at your institution,\u201d said Paul-James Cukanna, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Duquesne University. \u201cThere\u2019s a science to it all. You look at conversion rates. We also think about not just getting students here but retaining them, and so there is a correlation between the amount of scholarship [money] that you give students coming in and the retention of students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cukanna has worked in admissions for 20 years, and has seen the processes at both large public schools and more selective private schools. He shared the logic that goes behind making scholarship decisions for colleges.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be about your market position, because each of us has a different market position and dependent upon your market position you could be bullish and give less money or maybe you have to give more money to enroll students, and sometimes the behaviors of your competitors influence how much money you have to give,\u201d said Cukanna.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also explained why it\u2019s necessary to differentiate the needs of different programs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes your strategy has to be major or program specific because each one of them can have different qualifications,\u201d said Cukanna.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cukanna gave the example of more impacted departments, such as the health sciences that have a large demand and a limited number of seats, reducing the need for scholarship money. On the other hand, a department that is less impacted and that the school has trouble enrolling enough students for may require that the school gives more scholarship money.<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to these factors, merit scholarships are given based on some of the more traditional qualifications as well as segmented elements.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProgram of study is one [qualification, and then] how they perform academically for grades 9-12, and standardized test score plays a role. We also look at activities, what they\u2019ve been engaged in in high school, and then we look at admission and access. When we\u2019re looking at special populations we also consider that in the merit based or academic based monies,\u201d said Cukanna.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another piece to the scholarship puzzle is if admissions officers see a student as a good fit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe scholarships for this current year range anywhere from $10,000 up to $16,000. It\u2019s not a system where an ACT and a grade point average equals a scholarship, it\u2019s a holistic review. So we review students based on what major interest area they\u2019re applying to, their extracurricular involvement and really the basis for the scholarships is, is this student a good fit for Bradley, and is Bradley a good fit for the student,\u201d said Justin Ball Vice President for Enrollment Management at <\/span>Bradley University<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although these scholarships are largely based on a student\u2019s success in high school, receiving some sort of merit scholarship is very common. All three schools reported awarding 92% to 98% of incoming students a merit scholarship. Many schools use a discount rate to determine the money given. Cukanna said Duquesne University uses an independent consultant to calculate their discount rate, which is the portion of the tuition dollars that is given back to students in the form of grant money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to leverage the money that we do have to achieve correct enrollment, to meet mission, to provide access and choice, to make sure that our discount rate is controlled, to make sure that we position ourselves well on US news, all of these major surveys, we\u2019re thinking about retention,\u201d said Cukanna.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among these, there are several goals colleges and universities have in awarding merit-based scholarships, and they are fairly consistent. From affordability to attracting talented students to simple numbers, the rationales for giving scholarships are dovetail with the goals of the institution at large.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the big goal is to make Pacific affordable for our families. Then of course we\u2019re always looking to enhance our academic reputation and offer scholarships to the best students who will really benefit from a Pacific education,\u201d said Limper.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Pacific University, Duquesne University, and Bradley University are all four-year universities, other schools like <\/span>Miami Dade College<\/span><\/a>, a community college, provide admission scholarship opportunities for students as well. The <\/span>American Dream Scholarship<\/span><\/a> is the college\u2019s main admission scholarship, but unlike some traditional scholarships, the requirements are set up so that the scholarship will more directly benefit the local community. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe requirements for the American Dream Scholarship is number one, for students who reside in the Miami Dade County, they have graduated from high school or obtained their GED in Miami Dade County, they need to be pursuing an associate\u2019s degree, they also need to be enrolled full time for courses, they need a 3.0 weighted high school GPA, and college ready test scores,\u201d said Iliana Patron, Director of the Miami Dade College Information Center.<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal of the American Dream Scholarship are to target students who may not otherwise receive aid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, students who are high achievers, straight A students, they have a lot of scholarship opportunities. If a student is low income, they have the opportunity of receiving the full Pell Grant from financial aid. But I think historically, the students in the middle are the ones who have been ignored. This scholarship helps fill that large gap,\u201d said Patron.<\/span><\/p>\n

The amount of merit scholarship money that students receive may seem random, but colleges and universities work to give students as much aid as they can based on their qualifications, interests, and overall fit for the particular school. As cost is a huge factor for a student deciding among educational paths, merit scholarships are an effective way colleges can lower the sticker price for students and collectively shape the make-up of their first-year students.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the exciting day comes for students to receive their acceptance letters from colleges and universities, many contain a dollar amount that the student will receive as a merit-based admissions scholarship. Many students will also receive financial aid, but the approval process for financial aid comes with fewer questions, as there are national standards for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":10491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[2374,2376,2375,3482,2372],"class_list":{"0":"post-10488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scholarships","8":"tag-how-colleges-determine-merit-scholarship-awards","9":"tag-how-merit-scholarship-money-is-determined","10":"tag-how-students-are-selected-for-merit-scholarships","11":"tag-liberal-arts","12":"tag-merit-scholarships","13":"ad_tags-sat"},"better_featured_image":{"id":10491,"alt_text":"","caption":"Close-up Of Black Graduation Cap On Dollar Banknotes","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":2121,"height":1414,"file":"s3:\/\/pcom-wp-media\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/19125807\/iStock-949208566.jpg","sizes":{},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":10488,"source_url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/19125807\/iStock-949208566.jpg"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMerit Scholarships | How Students are Selected & Money Award is Set<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When students to receive their acceptance letters from college, many contain a merit scholarship. 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