<p>From Northwestern’s website:
- Does Northwestern offer merit aid?
Northwestern is an institutional sponsor of National Merit Scholarships. In addition, the School of Music awards a number of talent scholarships to incoming students with outstanding performance in auditions. The remainder of the Northwestern scholarship funds are awarded in accordance with our need-based financial aid policy which allows our uniformly high quality students to attend regardless of their ability to cover the cost.</p>
<p>My son got all three kinds of aid. The music scholarship was not huge, but more than his National Merit scholarship. The merit aid was renewable based on academic/music performance, not financial need. All in all, they made it affordable to attend, with no loans. It wasn’t finances which ultimately made him choose a different school, although he would have been very happy at Northwestern and it was a difficult decision.</p>