Top 30 Colleges With the Largest Merit Scholarships

Colleges with Largest Merit Scholarships
If you’re a family that won’t qualify for need-based aid, it’s time to start looking for colleges with merit scholarships. Review the list of the top 30 colleges offering the most merit aid or merit scholarships.

Top 30 Colleges With the Largest Merit Scholarships

Published October 20, 2019 | Last Updated June 29th, 2023 at 04:24 pm

If you’re a family that won’t qualify for need-based aid, it’s time to start looking for colleges with merit scholarships. Review the list of the top 30 colleges offering the most merit aid or merit scholarships.
Colleges with Largest Merit Scholarships

If you’re a family that won’t qualify for need-based aid, it’s time to start looking for colleges with merit scholarships.

Specifically, money colleges award that is not based on any financial need is called merit-based aid. These scholarships are usually awarded based on academic performance and sometimes based on special talents.

What Colleges Give the Most Merit Aid or Merit Scholarships?

We did a quick sort of our R2C Insights tool to find colleges with merit scholarships and ranked them by the amount of merit aid they gave to freshmen who did not have any financial need (as determined by the college).

Our R2C Insights tool has information on merit awards, from compiling Common Data Set information that colleges publish on their websites and crowdsourcing actual financial aid award offers from families with high school seniors.

Unfortunately, not all colleges make this information public, so our college list may not be completely inclusive of all the appropriate schools.

But for the purpose of giving a glimpse into the top colleges with merit awards, this is a good start. The list below was put together based solely on the average amount of merit scholarships offered to freshmen.

Top 10 Colleges That Award the Largest Merit Scholarships

Name % Freshmen w/out need Receiving Merit Aid (’21 – ’22*)  Avg Merit Award for Freshmen Without Need
(’21 – ’22*) 
  • Webb Institute
100% $52,620
  • University of Richmond
18%  $42,538
  • Beloit College
100% $41,660
  • Albion College
 100%  $39,697
  • John Hopkins University
 6%  $39,328
  • The University of Tulsa
9% $39,152
  • Susquehanna University
98% $36,317
  • Clarkson University
90% $35,794
  • Davidson College
7% $35,549
  • DePauw University
114% $35,510
 
It’s important to remember that just because a college offers a large average merit award, it doesn’t mean a lot of students receive them. Consequently, you’ll need to also research how many students actually receive the award.

The percentage of freshmen who receive merit-based awards who do not have financial need varies greatly on the list below – from a low of 6% to a high of 100%.

R2C Insights (CI) can help you discover schools that are generous with merit scholarships and fit the criteria most important to your student.

You’ll not only save precious time, but they’ll avoid the heartache of applying to schools they aren’t likely to get into or can’t afford to attend.

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R2C Insights Road2College Ultimate tool to find merit scholarships and compare colleges

 

Top 30 Colleges That Give Merit to the Largest Percent of Freshmen

NameStateSAT 75th Percentile ('21-'22)ACT 75th Percentile ('21 - '22)% Freshmen w/out need Receiving Merit Aid ('21 - '22)Avg Merit Award for Freshmen Without Need ('21 - '22)
Washington & Jefferson CollegePA129031100%$34,857
Webb InstituteNY150035100%$52,620
Kalamazoo CollegeMI13733097%$32,970
Seattle Pacific UniversityWA - 2894%$26,626
Clarkson UniversityNY13703290%$35,794
Allegheny CollegePA13502898%$35,299
Susquehanna UniversityPA12502898%$36,317
Hartwick CollegeNY12002889%$31,823
Albion CollegeMI120027100%$39,697
Hendrix CollegeAR13203198%$25,771
Beloit CollegeWI138028100%$41,660
University of RichmondVA14623418%$42,538
Agnes Scott CollegeGA139031100%$31,127
Wabash CollegeIN132529100%$31,853
Lawrence UniversityWI14603299%$31,503
Cornell CollegeIA13803098%$30,950
Coe CollegeIA120027100%$33,182
Southern Methodist UniversityTX14903461%$28950
DePauw UniversityIN140031114%$35,510
Washington and Lee UniversityVA15303511%$43,818
Stetson UniversityFL13102969%$25,244
Widener UniversityPA'-'-94%$31,300
Knox CollegeIL136031100%$27,272
Centre CollegeKY13803297%$30,257
Bellarmine UniversityKY12802899%$29,817
Georgetown CollegeKY11002548%$34,280
Lake Forest CollegeIL13353196%$31,278
St. Catherine UniversityMN117025104%$32,101
Wartburg CollegeIA12002599%$28,727

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*Information is based on 2021 – 2022 college Common Data Sets.

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