What I’m trying to understand is whether the non-FA seekers in RD have a better shot at merit money than the non-FA seekers in binding ED (of course, at the schools which offer merit)
@GMTplus7, it certainly makes sense for schools to hold their merit money for their EA and RD applicants. In fact, I believe that some schools only give merit money to EA applicants?
Also, some schools have a war chest that they use to win over admits after acceptances go out. WashU definitely has one. UChicago certainly had one, but they may not utilize that so much to get the class that they want now with their climb in the rankings. Obviously, ED admits do not have to be won over.
Boston College was one which had a limited number of merit awards and you had to apply EA to try for one. Each school is different, some use merit as an enticement to undecided kids and some list on their websites how much merit will be offered based on the student’s stats. These are not the most selective schools, but many of the most selective schools do not offer any merit at all. The only way to know is to research the individual schools your child is considering.
My youngest was admitted EA to U Chicago with no merit offer, not even a token $2000. We saw on CC that many kids with lower stats received merit offers. That made her feel less wanted, although later she was admitted to several top LACs including an early write to Swarthmore. While that made her feel better, she did not attend Swat either.