Colleges that increase merit aid after an initial offer 2026

Three years ago, I started a thread for parents who noted merit aid went up closer to May 1st and after an initial offer. But that thread auto-closed.

Anyone care to add their experience this year.

So far, I’ve read about Furman, RPI and Wooster.

@NemesisLead - maybe you can give the before and after on Furman…and anyone else that can add schools. I know Baylor was in the past thread

RPI added $4K per @beefeater . I’m not sure what the original offer was.

The list 3 years ago had these below - doesn’t mean they are the same today. But you never know - and it is more a buyer’s market I think than 3 years ago - meaning the school’s need the students more than vice versa. I’ll also note the article on Syracuse U last year which talked about many students getting huge late offers.

Good luck to merit chasers out there.

Baylor

Butler

Clark

Creighton

Loyola Chicago

Marist (two times)

U Minnesota

U Portland

Xavier

Western Washington

Willammette (on appeal)

WPI

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Original for RPI was $40k (Rensselaer Medal). So up $4k to $44k.

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Thank you, tsbna44. Furman went from $42K to $48K per year, which was great. They are the only “merit school” on D26’s list that has increased their offer.

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Their direct costs are $81,276. That’s a big WOW for a full pay family, at a school with a fantastic reputation!!!

Congrats on not having decided yet. That’s another $24K for mom/dad while you waited (if the student attends)!!!

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University of Tulsa originally gave D26 a $24,000/yr merit tuition scholarship. A couple of wk ago, they offered another $3000/yr off of tuition. We don’t qualify for need-based aid and D26 didn’t have a high enough SAT or ACT test score to qualify for applying for their competitive scholarship that pays for all of the ~$52k/yr tuition.

So with the extra $3k/yr off tuition, Tulsa’s tuition, room & board would be ~$42,266 for our family. Definitely not affordable. Subtract a $5500/yr student loan off of that, and that makes it $36,766/yr, not including travel expenses to go home for breaks.

D26 has 3.59 UW/4.44 GPA, attends rigorous public charter high school.

Meanwhile, University of Arizona (in state for us) gave D26 $6000 off of tuition, which means that tuition, room & board is $26,870. Add in the $5500/yr fed student loan and the total per year becomes $21,370.

So $21,370 compared to $36,766. $15,396 more per year to attend Univ of Tulsa. But if you factor in travel expenses (minimal for U of A since we can drive there in 1.5 hr vs plane ride to OK) of probably $2000-$3000/academic year, that makes the difference upwards of $18k/yr more.

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Not a lot compared to some numbers here, but UMN earlier this month offered C26 $5k a year after originally not offering anything.

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Stevens

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Details please. From..,to