A 26 and a 3.50 is worth money at 474 colleges.
Not an estimate and not a ranking of “best value”. These are schools whose own published award grid pays a stated figure at these two numbers, read from 504 universities’ pages and dated. The largest is Simpson at $40,000 a year — $160,000 over four years.
Updating…
How many are in your state?
A list of 474 is a phone book. The useful number is the one near you, with a deadline you can still make.
6 of them, free
Split public and private on purpose. A single list ranked by dollars ranks sticker price, not generosity — a private discounting $40,000 off $55,000 beats a flagship discounting $8,000 off $12,000 while costing the family far more.
The public awards below are the three largest at these numbers. The private ones are a sample from the middle of the list — the largest private awards are in the full list, and we would rather say that than pretend these are the best on offer.
Public universities
$20,326/yr
$81,304 over four years
$18,600/yr
$74,400 over four years
$17,555/yr
$70,220 over four years
Private colleges
$16,000/yr
$64,000 over four years
$16,000/yr
$64,000 over four years
$16,000/yr
$64,000 over four years
+ 468 more schools pay at these numbers
409 of them state a dollar figure. The rest publish a benefit — free tuition, in-state rates — which is listed as the school words it.
199 of them have a scholarship deadline that has not passed yet.
What you get
A saved page you can filter and come back to, and the same list as a PDF by email. Both numbered, both linked to each school’s grid.
Filter 474 schools by state, type, award size or deadline.
+ 470 more at a 26 and a 3.50
You get this page — saved, filterable, yours to come back to — and the same list as a PDF by email. Every school links to its grid.
The full list
- All 474 schools that pay at a 26 and a 3.50, ranked
- What each one pays per year, and over four years
- The published scholarship deadline, for the 300+ schools that state one
- A saved page you can filter and return to, plus the same list as a PDF
- Every figure quoted from the school's own page, with the date we read it
Not your card? Send this list to a parent and they can buy it. They get the same numbers you are looking at.
This is the list. The plan is the next point.
The Merit List tells you what a 26 is worth today. The Merit Plan answers a different question: where a 27 changes the award, which single threshold pays you most to reach, and the target score to aim at — with the prep library to get there. Different question, different price.