Merit Scholarship renewal?

rwclifford
Sun, 14 Jul 2024 08:19:05 +0000

Hello! I’m an F&M alumni and attended between 2014 and 2018. The fact that F&M had stopped providing merit based aid was actually a huge win for college access. There’s a great WSJ article featuring F&M that discusses how removing merit based aid and increasing need based aid gives lower income families better access to institutions like F&M. On a personal note, I actually feel extremely lucky that I attended F&M in the period when merit scholarships were not offered. I don’t come from an especially low income family, but I still saw the direct benefits this policy. I was offered merit scholarships from several schools, but F&Ms aid package actually exceeded the aid packages I received from any of the other institutions that offered me merit aid. I was specifically choosing between F&M and Oxy. I much preferred F&M, but Oxy had given me a sizable merit scholarship and I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to attend F&M , but my relief when the F&M aid package came through and I saw it actually exceeded Oxy’s was incredible. F&Ms decision to stop merit scholarships was a move that allowed low-income students, who have not had the same academic advantages as higher income students, the opportunity to attend. Through its work with the Posse Foundation, College Prep, test-free application, and the end of merit based aid, F&M has become a leader in promoting college access. As an alumni, F&Ms commitment to supporting college access is far far more important to me than its selectivity, and I was sorry to see the change in policy.