We decided to look at merit scholarships awarded by public universities. In general, these awards tend to be smaller compared to private colleges, but so is the cost to attend at public universities vs. private schools (at least if you receive instate tuition). We did a sort of our database and filtered schools by public status and than sorted them based on the size of the average merit aid award given to students without any financial need (at least as determined by the college).
Listed below are the top 30 schools that award the largest average merit aid amounts to students without financial need. This list was based solely on using pubicly available Common Data Set information that schools publish on their websites. What’s interesting is that within the top 20 schools, the size of the merit scholarships quickly dipped to below $10k. This is not to say that there aren’t very generous public schools offering full tuition scholarships (like University of Alabama) or offering in-state tuition to out of state students, as a different form of merit aid (like University of Arkansas).
In addition to looking at the average merit scholarship amount, data on graduation rates, SAT/ACT 75th percentile, % of students without need receiving merit awards, and in-state and out-of-state costs are also included. You can sort the data by any column. It’s important to remember that just because a college offers merit aid, it doesn’t mean they offer it to a large percentage of students without need, so sort and filter with these columns. In addition, it’s important to consider graduation rates. Most schools only offer merit aid for four years, so graduating in 5 years or longer can add significant expense.
Our data is based on the latest IPEDs data and publicly available Common Data Set files that colleges publish on their websites. Data on merit scholarships primarily comes from information in a college’s Common Data Set. Unfortunately, not all colleges publically publish this information, so our college list may not be completely inclusive of all the appropriate schools. But for the purpose of giving a glimpse into the colleges that award merit scholarships to the greatest percentage of students, this is a good start.
Public Schools Offering The Largest Average Merit Awards
| Name | State Abbr | 4 yr Grad-uation Rate | 5 yr Grad-uation Rate | Converted SAT 75th Per- centile | ACT Com- posite 75th Per- centile | % Fresh- men w/out need Receiving Merit Aid | Avg merit award for Freshmen w/out need | Total Price In-State Students (16-17) | Total Price Out-of-State Students (16-17) | Common Data Set Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey Institute of Technology | NJ | 25 | 52 | 1370 | 29 | 57 | $18,046 | $35,130 | $49,734 | 2016-17 |
| University of Vermont | VT | 62 | 73 | 1360 | 30 | 84 | $14,650 | $31,960 | $55,024 | 2017-18 |
| Coastal Carolina University | SC | 27 | 39 | 1160 | 25 | 73 | $14,182 | $25,082 | $39,326 | 2017-18 |
| University of California-Berkeley | CA | 76 | 90 | 1560 | 34 | 10 | $13,394 | $36,369 | $63,051 | 2016-17 |
| University of Hawaii at Manoa | HI | 25 | 51 | 1260 | 26 | 53 | $12,885 | $28,613 | $50,645 | 2016-17 |
| The University of Texas at Dallas | TX | 51 | 64 | 1430 | 31 | 47 | $12,775 | $26,580 | $44,196 | 2016-17 |
| Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | FL | 12 | 30 | 1150 | 24 | 34 | $12,261 | $22,420 | $34,360 | 2017-18 |
| University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | PA | 64 | 79 | 1430 | 32 | 19 | $12,110 | $32,782 | $43,922 | 2017-18 |
| Jackson State University | MS | 19 | 33 | 1130 | 21 | 10 | $11,875 | $23,069 | $33,422 | 2016-17 |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick | NJ | 59 | 77 | 1410 | 12 | $11,637 | $30,995 | $46,646 | 2016-17 | |
| Northeastern Illinois University | IL | 4 | 14 | 1010 | 20 | 4 | $11,524 | $30,127 | $38,503 | 2017-18 |
| Ramapo College of New Jersey | NJ | 61 | 71 | 1260 | 26 | 34 | $11,082 | $30,479 | $39,479 | 2017-18 |
| University of California-San Diego | CA | 59 | 84 | 1490 | 33 | 3 | $10,814 | $32,239 | $58,921 | 2015-16 |
| University of California-Merced | CA | 38 | 63 | 1140 | 24 | 4 | $10,521 | $35,511 | $62,193 | 2016-17 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | 84 | 90 | 1470 | 33 | 5 | $10,376 | $24,898 | $49,980 | 2016-17 |
| University of Maryland-Baltimore County | MD | 38 | 58 | 1380 | 29 | 40 | $10,180 | $26,894 | $40,122 | 2016-17 |
| University of Alabama in Huntsville | AL | 15 | 41 | 1400 | 31 | 74 | $10,118 | $24,711 | $35,481 | 2016-17 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | VA | 36 | 56 | 1270 | 27 | 41 | $10,061 | $30,334 | $49,491 | 2016-17 |
| University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | 69 | 80 | 1440 | 32 | 3 | $10,012 | $35,172 | $61,854 | 2016-17 |
| Michigan State University | MI | 52 | 74 | 1320 | 29 | 19 | $9,915 | $27,290 | $51,118 | 2016-17 |
| University of Connecticut | CT | 70 | 81 | 1400 | 31 | 32 | $9,691 | $30,002 | $51,794 | 2016-17 |
| Miami University-Oxford | OH | 66 | 77 | 1410 | 31 | 54 | $9,531 | $30,420 | $48,239 | 2017-18 |
| Bemidji State University | MN | 5 | 27 | 24 | 53 | $9,186 | $20,208 | $20,208 | 2016-17 | |
| University of Colorado Boulder | CO | 47 | 66 | 1370 | 30 | 55 | $8,893 | $29,215 | $52,763 | 2016-17 |
| Alabama State University | AL | 7 | 16 | 1000 | 19 | 11 | $8,789 | $19,634 | $26,570 | 2016-17 |
| SUNY at Binghamton | NY | 71 | 82 | 1450 | 31 | 2 | $8,677 | $24,861 | $39,941 | 2015-16 |
| Temple University | PA | 45 | 66 | 1340 | 30 | 56 | $8,655 | $33,048 | $44,040 | 2016-17 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | 41 | 80 | 1530 | 34 | 16 | $8,532 | $27,420 | $47,612 | 2016-17 |
| Fairmont State University | WV | 14 | 25 | 1100 | 23 | 33 | $8,265 | $20,240 | $27,956 | 2016-17 |
| University of Missouri-St Louis | MO | 29 | 48 | 1150 | 27 | 30 | $8,195 | $23,464 | $38,595 | 2016-17 |
Due to lack of consistent sources, the data in this chart is from multiple years. IPEDS data (graduation rate and in-state/out-of-state price) is from ’16-’17. Common Data Set information (75th percentile scores, avg. amount of merit aid, and % of students without need receiving merit) is from the most recent year of publically available data.
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