In either 2017 or 2018, I was still interviewing for Vassar. I had an extremely qualified and impressive applicant that was accepted to VC with no financial aid but received the “Presidential Scholarship” at Bard.
She ultimately accepted the Bard opportunity. I can only assume based on her complete lack of FA at VC that the scholarship at Bard was tantamount to merit based.
First hand experience once removed so apologies.
FYI this current passage from their website seems relevant when discussing “if” Bard offers merit aid. They do!
This is a prior years experience (as conveyed by a CC member) consistent with what I described above.