Universities Weblog

(Source: Hamilton College)

How much should colleges reward merit, and how much should they address need? It's a tricky question with no clear answers. Put another way, the answer varies by institution.

But as this USA Today article shows, many colleges are rethinking whatever formulas they've used. As a result, they're pouring more resources into need-based aid and cutting merit-based funding.

Here's a snippet:

Good grades and high test scores still matter - a lot - to many colleges as they award financial aid.

But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that aid, typically known as merit aid, is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.

george washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third and pare the number of recipients, pouring the savings, about $2.5 million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision three years ago.

Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.

Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous need-based packages, but plenty of families who don't meet need eligibility have been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.

Read the rest here. And check out Hamilton College's new policy and rationale here.

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