We Make Too Much for Financial Aid. Now What?
· 5 min read
If you have just run a net price calculator and watched it return a number close to full sticker, the conclusion feels obvious: there is no money for families like ours.
That conclusion is half right. You are probably out of the need-based system. You are almost certainly not out of the other one.
See what your student's numbers already earn
Two numbers — an ACT score and a GPA — against every published grid we hold. The first answer is free and comes with the page it was read from.
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There are two systems, and only one of them asks what you earn
Need-based aid answers what can this family afford. It runs on the FAFSA, sometimes the CSS Profile, and it is means-tested by design. Above a certain income it returns nothing, and no amount of appealing changes the arithmetic.
Merit aid answers a completely different question: what did this student do. At most public universities and a great many private colleges it is not a judgement call at all. It is a table — this ACT, this GPA, that much money — printed on the school's own website.
That table never asks your income. A family earning $300,000 and a family earning $30,000 with the same student numbers get the same published award.
This is the part that surprises parents who have spent a week reading about financial aid and concluded there is nothing out there. There is, and it is not hidden — it is on the university's own financial aid page, which is where we read it from.
What the numbers actually look like
We have read and dated the published merit grids at 501 universities. Here is what a student clears automatically at three ordinary profiles — no essays, no interviews, no competition.
| Student | Automatic awards they already clear | Worth $20,000+ a year |
|---|---|---|
| ACT 29, GPA 3.6 | 385 | 75 |
| ACT 26, GPA 3.4 | 367 | 63 |
| ACT 23, GPA 3.2 | 331 | 54 |
Read the bottom row again. A 23 with a 3.2 is a thoroughly ordinary student — and that student already qualifies, today, for 54 published awards worth more than $20,000 a year.
An honest warning about the biggest figures
The largest numbers in our dataset are at private colleges, and they need context.
Simpson College in Iowa publishes $40,000 a year for a 29 with a 3.6. That is real and automatic — but it is a discount off a high sticker price, not a cheque. A $40,000 award against a $55,000 cost leaves a bigger bill than a $16,000 award against a $26,000 cost.
Always compare an award against that school's actual cost of attendance, never against another school's award. A headline figure tells you how aggressively a college discounts, not what you will pay.
Which is why the public figures below matter more to most families.
Public universities pay too — mostly to out-of-state students
At a 29 with a 3.6 we count 185 automatic awards at public universities. Almost all of the biggest are aimed at students from somewhere else:
| School | Award | Per year | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia College | Distinguished Scholars | $20,326 | Non-residents |
| Central Washington | Pacific Northwest Scholarship | $18,600 | Idaho and Oregon residents |
| Evergreen State (WA) | First-Year Merit Award | $17,555 | Western Exchange states |
| UAB (AL) | Provost Scholarship | $17,500 | Non-residents |
| Oklahoma | Distinguished Scholar | $16,500 | Out-of-state |
| Montana State | Achievement Award | $16,000 | Non-residents |
| Alabama | Foundation in Excellence | $15,000 | Out-of-state |
Notice the pattern in the right-hand column. Public universities charge non-residents far more and then discount aggressively to attract them, which means the out-of-state option is sometimes cheaper than it looks and occasionally cheaper than staying home. That is the opposite of what most families assume, and it is checkable in an afternoon.
If your student does not test well
A bad test score does not close this door.
Of the 501 colleges we have read, 224 decide merit on GPA alone and never look at an ACT or SAT at all. Kansas publishes $16,000 a year. Arizona State publishes $17,500. Mount Marty in South Dakota publishes $21,000. None of them reads a score.
Look up any school and see whether its grid reads a score or only a GPA
→Still file the FAFSA
Even if you are certain you qualify for nothing.
Many colleges require a FAFSA on file before they will release their own merit money, and several state programmes require one regardless of income. Filing costs nothing. Skipping it can forfeit an award your student has already earned on paper.
Three things this is not
Not offers. These are published award schedules. The financial aid office makes the award, and meeting a printed threshold is not the same as holding a letter.
Not guaranteed everywhere. At 448 of the 501 schools the award is stated as automatic. At the other 53 the numbers describe who is considered, not who receives.
Not a reason to skip the cost conversation. A large award at an expensive college can still leave a larger bill than a modest award at a cheap one. The award is one number in the sum, not the answer.
Which single point is worth the most to your student?
We hold 3,537 published award bands across 48 states, each one carrying the page it came from and the date a human checked it. Tell us two numbers and we will find the threshold that pays you most to reach.
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Frequently asked questions
We make too much for financial aid. Can we still get money for college?
Yes, from a different system. Need-based aid is calculated from your income and assets through the FAFSA. Merit aid is not — most public universities and many private colleges publish a table that says what a given ACT score and GPA earn, and that table never asks what you make. At a 29 with a 3.6 GPA, we count 385 automatic awards across the 501 colleges whose grids we have read, 75 of them worth $20,000 a year or more.
What is the difference between merit aid and need-based aid?
Need-based aid answers 'what can this family afford' and is decided by the FAFSA and often the CSS Profile. Merit aid answers 'what did this student do' and is usually decided by a published grid crossing ACT or SAT score with GPA. A family can be ineligible for every dollar of need-based aid and still qualify automatically for merit aid at the same school.
Do I still have to file the FAFSA if we make too much?
Usually yes. Many colleges require a FAFSA on file before they will disburse their own merit money, even when the family qualifies for nothing need-based, and some state programmes require it too. Filing costs nothing and skipping it can forfeit an award the student already earned.
Which colleges give the most automatic merit aid?
The largest published figures sit at private colleges discounting a high sticker price, and at public universities offering money to out-of-state students. At a 29 with a 3.6, the biggest public award we hold is Georgia College's Distinguished Scholars Award at $20,326 a year for non-residents. Always compare the award against that school's actual cost, not against the award at another school.
Can my child get merit aid without a good test score?
At many colleges, yes. Of the 501 schools we have read, 224 decide merit on GPA alone and never look at a test score. Kansas publishes $16,000 a year, Arizona State $17,500 and Mount Marty $21,000, all without reading an ACT.
Is merit aid guaranteed if we meet the published numbers?
Only where the school says the award is automatic, which is the case at 448 of the 501 schools we have read. At the other 53 the published numbers describe who is considered rather than who receives, so meeting them makes a student eligible rather than entitled. The school's financial aid office always makes the award.