<p>My kids were TOTALLY different–majors, stats, years of application. S applied as a HS SR and was accepted. He was a NMF & at the time, they gave all accepted NMFs a 50% tuition award. </p>
<p>Fast forward to now, they reject some NMFs and there is no guarantee they will provide any merit award, much less a 50% tuition merit award. We know a NMF who was rejected in 2012 and another in 2013, even tho it was their favorite school and parents likely would have been willing to be full-pay.</p>
<p>Anecdotal evidence is not as useful as checking the policies of the Us. Some Us say they keep their tuition and expenses down so such Us are more affordable for all. These Us are still around. Merit awards are much trickier to analyze IMHO. There are many intangibles and no guarantees except for those Us that publish automatic awards – if the student has XXX GPA and YYY score(s) they get $ZZZ award.</p>