It’s not just how I define and it’s not just my definition. Mwfan1921 told you that this is how schools report financial aid, and this is where I where I got the definition I used in my post #13, above:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_financial_aid_(United_States)
Under any reasonable definition, a merit based award is financial aid. Read the linked Wikipedia page.
Further restrictions may be applied that have nothing to do with either need or merit factors; for instance, state of residence, gender, or intended area of study. But it’s all “financial aid,” because it’s “funding that is used to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the pursuit of post-secondary education.”