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Help families compare the award and the rule behind it. This free checklist turns a confusing financial aid conversation into eight concrete checks. Print it for family meetings, add it to a counseling resource page, or pair it with our source-linked data.
The merit-aid comparison checklist Use one copy per college. A checked box means the family has a current answer and a source, not just a promising headline.
1. Compare the net price, not the scholarship headline. Put tuition, fees, housing, food, and required expenses beside every grant and scholarship. A larger award can still leave a larger bill. 2. Separate automatic awards from competitive awards. Confirm whether published GPA and test thresholds guarantee consideration, guarantee an award, or only qualify the student to compete. 3. Save the official source and the date checked. Scholarship pages change. Keep the source URL, award cycle, and date beside each amount, cutoff, and deadline. 4. Write down every renewal condition. Capture the required college GPA, credit load, full-time status, academic standing, major restrictions, and maximum number of terms. 5. Ask how outside scholarships change the package. Do not assume an outside award stacks. Ask whether the school reduces loans, work-study, unmet need, institutional grants, or the total package first. 6. Check the cost-of-attendance ceiling. A school may allow stacking only until total aid reaches its official cost of attendance or direct-cost limit. 7. Model all four years. Apply the renewal rule, likely tuition increases, housing changes, and any one-time awards to the full degree, not only year one. 8. Confirm high-stakes details with the college. Before a family acts, ask the financial aid office to confirm the current award cycle, renewal terms, and interaction with other aid in writing. Source-linked research to use with it Each report includes a downloadable dataset and the official source trail used for the published findings.
Merit Scholarship Renewal Rules by the Numbers, 2026 2,506 renewal records
Automatic Merit Scholarships by the Numbers, 2026 1,318 automatic merit tiers
The Scholarship Displacement Census, 2026 749 colleges checked Built for checking, not predicting. MeritPlaybook does not guarantee an award. Policies and offers change, so families should verify any decision-moving detail directly with the college before acting. Read our evidence standard .
