Colleges covered
Merit aid research by school.
Verified tiers, stacking rules, and common mistakes for 49 U.S. colleges.
MeritPlaybook publishes one merit aid page per school in the priority 49. Each page is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages and Common Data Set filings, and every claim carries a link to the source. A human analyst verifies every page before it goes live, and every page shows the verification date and the analyst’s initials. We don’t publish until the data is verified. Schools marked “research in progress” below are actively being worked on. Schools marked “planned” are in the queue and don’t have a live page yet. This index updates as pages go live. Currently 49 of 49 schools have a verified page published.
Mid-selective merit leaders
Private and regional universities that use merit aid aggressively as a discount lever. The conversion sweet spot for most families.
- Southern Methodist UniversityTXView →
- Texas Christian UniversityTXView →
- Baylor UniversityTXView →
- Tulane UniversityLAView →
- Wake Forest UniversityNCView →
- Boston CollegeMAView →
- Fordham UniversityNYView →
- Lehigh UniversityPAView →
- Case Western Reserve UniversityOHView →
- University of Southern CaliforniaCAView →
- University of MiamiFLView →
- Pepperdine UniversityCAView →
- Santa Clara UniversityCAView →
- Villanova UniversityPAView →
- Emory UniversityGAView →
Regional merit powerhouses
Public flagships and honors programs with clear, formula-driven automatic merit. Predictable dollars for middle-income families.
- University of AlabamaALView →
- Arizona State University (Barrett)AZView →
- University of ArizonaAZView →
- University of MississippiMSView →
- Mississippi State UniversityMSView →
- Louisiana State UniversityLAView →
- Auburn UniversityALView →
- University of OklahomaOKView →
- Oklahoma State UniversityOKView →
- University of KentuckyKYView →
Faith-affiliated and specialty
Schools with distinct merit structures or denominational tie-ins that don't show up in generic scholarship databases.
Top-25 selectives
Merit aid at the most selective schools is rare to nonexistent. These pages exist to explain why and what families should target instead.
- Harvard UniversityMAView →
- Yale UniversityCTView →
- Princeton UniversityNJView →
- Stanford UniversityCAView →
- MITMAView →
- University of ChicagoILView →
- Columbia UniversityNYView →
- University of PennsylvaniaPAView →
- Cornell UniversityNYView →
- Duke UniversityNCView →
- Northwestern UniversityILView →
- Johns Hopkins UniversityMDView →
- Rice UniversityTXView →
- Vanderbilt UniversityTNView →
- Washington University in St. LouisMOView →
UC and CSU system
California public university system. Merit aid is structurally limited but present in specific programs.
How we verify every college page
Every published page runs through the same four-step research methodology: multi-model AI research using the Ask Three AI approach, human analyst verification against the school’s own published pages, a second-reader pass for voice and accuracy, and a dated publication. If a school’s page isn’t live yet, it’s because one of those steps hasn’t completed.
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