FAQ
Everything we actually get asked.
Answered straight. No marketing fluff.
01Is $99 really worth it?
One scholarship found, or one trap avoided, pays for it many times over. Most families avoid one or the other. Plenty avoid both.
02How is this different from Fastweb or a generic AI chatbot?
Fastweb is a generic list. Generic AI chatbots hallucinate. We check your specific schools' published aid policies and only include awards that actually matter to your kid.
03My kid's counselor already helps with scholarships. Why would I need this?
Your counselor knows your student, not the stacking rules at dozens of private colleges. Most outside scholarships never cross their desk. We cover the ground they can't.
04We're middle class. Aren't scholarships just for low-income or straight-A students?
No. At private colleges like TCU, SMU, and Baylor, institutional merit is based on academic profile, not financial need. Middle-income families are often the biggest winners. We'll show you what your student qualifies for.
05What if you don't find anything useful?
30-day value guarantee. If your playbook misses the mark, we'll revise it at no charge. If you're still not satisfied after a revision, request a full refund through our contact form within 30 days of delivery.
06How do I know you're not selling my information?
We don't. Not to advertisers, not to schools, not to anyone. You pay us once. That's the whole deal.
07What's your refund policy?
If you're not satisfied with the quality of your playbook, we revise it based on your feedback at no extra cost. If a revised playbook still doesn't meet expectations, reach out via our contact page and we'll work it out. We don't issue automatic refunds because every playbook represents real research time, but we don't keep money for work the family genuinely didn't get value from.
08Can you guarantee my student will win scholarships?
No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something they can't deliver. Scholarship awards depend on the awarding organization, the applicant pool, and factors no third party controls. What we guarantee is a thoroughly researched strategy that maximizes the chances at every angle: which awards stack at your target schools, which to skip, what order to apply in, and what your realistic aid range looks like school by school.
09How is this different from a college counselor or independent educational consultant?
College counselors typically charge $3,000 to $15,000 for a multi-month engagement that covers admissions, essays, school list building, and sometimes financial aid. MeritPlaybook is $99 for a one-time strategy document focused entirely on merit aid and scholarship stacking. We don't help with admissions or essays. We don't run a multi-month coaching relationship. If you need full-service admissions help, hire an IEC. If you need a focused merit aid strategy, that's what we do.
10Can you help with admissions or college essays?
No. We focus on merit aid and scholarship strategy, which is a deep specialty in itself. Admissions and essay coaching are different products with different expertise. We're happy to recommend other resources if you need that support.
11What if my student is already a senior and decisions come out soon?
We can still help, especially if you haven't accepted an offer yet. A late-stage playbook focuses on which acceptances to revisit for appeal, which institutional aid offers can be improved, and which late-deadline outside scholarships are still worth pursuing. The financial aid appeal letter strategy alone has changed the picture for several families.
12What if my student doesn't have target schools yet?
That's fine. The intake form has a section for geographic preferences, school size preference, intended major, and any schools you're already considering. We use that to identify a working list of merit-friendly target schools as part of the playbook. If you already have a list, we work with it. If you don't, we build one.
13Do you work with international students?
Not currently. Our research is focused on US institutional merit aid, federal aid (FAFSA, CSS Profile), and US scholarship programs. International student aid follows different rules at different schools and isn't something we can do justice to right now.
14What if my student is homeschooled or attends a non-traditional school?
Homeschool students are a strong fit for merit aid because their academic profiles often differ from traditional applicants in ways schools value. The intake form has a section for education context including homeschool, dual enrollment, and online programs. We've researched merit aid policies at every school we cover with homeschool admissions in mind.
15What if my student is a transfer student?
Transfer merit aid follows different rules than freshman merit aid at most schools. Some schools have generous transfer merit programs, others have almost none. We can do a transfer-focused playbook that covers transfer merit thresholds, articulation agreements where relevant, and the smaller pool of transfer-eligible outside scholarships.
16Who actually builds my playbook?
The playbook is built by a fully automated research pipeline. Your profile runs through multiple research passes that check each finding against current school financial aid pages, scholarship and program rules, Common Data Set filings, deadlines, stacking limits, and renewal conditions. When a rule is clear, the playbook says what to do. When a rule is unclear, missing, old, or situation-dependent, the playbook labels it and gives you the exact question to ask the financial aid office. The output is a single ranked strategy: a Pursue / Backup / High Risk verdict on each school, and a Pursue / Stack / Skip call on every award. No single-source guessing. Source-backed reasoning is the bar.
17How current is your data?
Institutional merit policies, award amounts, and stacking rules change. We pull from the school's own financial aid pages and Common Data Set filings at the time we research your playbook, and every claim is dated and sourced. If a school updates its policy after we deliver, the playbook represents the rules at the time of research. For high-impact changes, families can request a free update within 30 days.
18What data sources do you use?
Every school's own financial aid page, the Common Data Set filings each school publishes, the Department of Education's College Scorecard, the College Board, named scholarship organizations' own application materials, and our verified institutional merit database. Multiple research passes surface candidates and check each finding against current school policies, scholarship rules, deadlines, and stacking limits. AI summaries are inputs, not final evidence. When a rule is unclear, we label it instead of pretending it is certain.
19Is my information private?
Yes. Intake responses are stored in a database with row-level security, accessed only by the automated research pipeline that generates your playbook, and never used for advertising. We don't sell your data or share it outside of the systems that build your playbook. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.
Question we didn’t answer? Send us a noteand we’ll add it to the list. Or see a real sample playbookif you’re ready to evaluate the deliverable.