<p>Sometimes it does work that way. Sometimes not. I know kids from very wealthy families who got merit money. The parents felt that there was no way they would get a dime, and the kids got substancial awards. If a school wants that PROFILE or FAFSA to give merit money, that possibility is stronger. I do know kids who got varying awards at similar schools which indicates that you really can’t tell where you will get the money. S got an award from a school that gives NO merit money. They have it packaged under research grants. One school that gives out a lot of merit money and was a good possibility for S, gave him $10K but other kids we knew with stats similar and not quite as high got more. In one case, a classmate did not get into a school where S was accepted when he had a more outstanding academic profile. Though on the average, you can predict, there are always the outliers.</p>