Using Data To Research Merit Scholarships

HomePlanCollege SearchUsing Data To Find Merit ScholarshipsThis page may contain affiliate links.Dec 9, 2019Finding merit scholarships doesn’t have to be like finding a needle in a haystack (although some search websites and colleges may make it feel that way). There is plenty of data available to help families do the necessary research to find schools that are more likely to offer students merit scholarships. Although there are no guarantees, why not put in a little time to understand and do the research to increase the odds of your student getting a merit scholarship? By finding those schoolsBEFOREyour student applies, you’ll have more options of affordable colleges when decisions start rolling in. The data to start your research comes from two sources:IPEDSand theCommon Data Set. IPEDS is data the government requires of all postsecondary institutions that receive federal financial aid money under Title IV of the Higher Education Act. The Common Data Set collects data under the collaborative arrangements made between higher education institutions and publishers, namely The College Board, Peterson’s, and U.S. News World Report (yes – this is part of the data that is used to make up the infamous USNWR rankings). These two data sources have information on colleges that will help youâ€Å"follow the money†to find schools that are more generous with their institutional aid. Asyouhelp your student create a list of potential schools toapply to, it’s important to make sure the list includes a good number of schools that have a higher likelihood of offering merit scholarships. This is the type of research that needs to happenBEFOREyour studentapplies, because after the applications are in, it’s too late and he/she will be left to choose from the schools that accept him/her with or without any merit aid offered. So if you don’t include these schools in the mix now, you’llbe out of luck when admissions decisions come out next spring. What Information Should You Research? Deciding to research is easy, finding the data is not so easy. But here’s the data that will help tell you if a college is generous: Average Percent of Need Met Colleges report this information, which shows how much of a student’s financial need a college can meet. For example, if a family’s EFC (expected family contribution) is $25,000, but the college costs $60,000, then the student’s need is $35,000. If a college reports they meet 90% of students’ need then the financial aid offer to this student would cover close to 90% of $35,000. This doesn’t mean all the aid will be free – most likely it will be a combination of loans, grants, and work-study. Percent of Students Receiving Merit Aid This information tells me what percent of students receive merit aid. It’s a good indication for finding a generous college, because if a high percent of the student body receives merit aid, the likelihood that my student will get merit aid increases. Average Merit Award Another good piece of information. I’d like to find a school that has a high average merit award number, like something close to $20,000 or more. Average Net Price This is the price that families pay after deducting their EFC and any aid they receive. If I calculate the Average Merit Award, as a percent of the Average Net Price, this gives me a good idea of how generous a school is – the higher the percent is, the more generous the school is. With all the information above, you can get a good idea of how generous a college is by understanding how many students are receiving merit aid, what size the merit aid offer is, and what percent of the net price the merit aid represent. We offer a college data spreadsheet with all the above information included, as well as important information from IPEDS. Having all this information in one tool that allows you to sort, filter, and compare is beyond helpful and worthwhile. Here’s what one parent told us about her frustration†¦ Im hoping I have missed some obvious place where I can do thisI am currently helping my DS make a spreadsheet that lets us compare schools on these basic variables avg gpa, avg ACT, admissions rate, net price. I cannot do this on Naviance, College Navigator, Niche, College Hunch, or Big Future. Help! We have spent so much time manually entering information and are barely half way done. Is there some service that will let me do this painlessly? TIA As a solution to the above parent’s issues, we offer ourCollege Data Spreadsheet (click to see a sample)which helps organize all the data you need to do a thorough college search. It combines data from IPEDS (government data) andCommon Data Set informationin ONE placeto sort, filter, and compare colleges the way you should to find affordable colleges and those that are generous with merit or need based aid. Here’s what one member said about buy and using the spreadsheet†¦ This is really worth it. The amount of time saved makes is so worth the money. I cant even tell you how many times Ive gone back to the master spreadsheet and now Ive made scaled-down ones with just the colleges that are still in the running with just the data we find most important for both my daughters. If you’re still reviewing schools to find those that offer the most merit aid, ourcollege data spreadsheetwill make the process so much easier. Get The College Data Spreadsheet Now