10 Colleges That Give Merit Aid to the Most Students

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One way to help close the gap between college savings and any need-based aid is with merit aid.

Merit aid, sometimes referred to as non-need-based aid, comes into play when colleges, especially those out of the top tier, use funds to attract desirable students. Typically, these students have a stronger academic profile or a specific talent, such as standing out with a particular extracurricular activity.

At each of the 10 ranked colleges where merit scholarships were awarded to the most students, more than 43 percent of full-time students in fall 2016 received merit awards, according to data submitted to U.S. News by schools in an annual survey. These colleges gave merit aid at a much higher rate than the average among the 1,111 ranked colleges that reported these data: 14.5 percent.

Half of these schools are National Liberal Arts Colleges – schools that emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts fields of study.

Opponents of merit aid say it reduces financial resources for needy students. In fact, some highly ranked colleges do not award merit scholarships, including Princeton University, Middlebury College, Amherst College and Dartmouth College, to name just a few.

Many schools only reserve merit aid for exceptional circumstances. Among the ranked schools that submitted these data, 628 colleges awarded merit aid to less than 15 percent of full-time students.

Below is a list of the 10 ranked colleges where the highest percentage of full-time students in fall 2016 received merit aid. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

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U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2017 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The financial aid data above are correct as of Oct. 24, 2017.