A report by the New America Foundation, The Out of State Student Arms Race, is the subject of another post on this site, How Much Should Public Universities Spend on Merit Aid? Although we have some disagreements with the New America report, it contains interesting arguments against the excessive use of non-need-based aid by public universities along with a list of those universities that provide the highest percentages of non-need-based aid to incoming freshmen.

The report would find full agreement from this quarter if it had been produced at a time past, when public universities received most of their funding from state appropriations and could maintain lower tuition rates for all. Now, unfortunately, many public institutions are forced to use merit aid more “strategically,” sometimes as part of the recruitment of out-of-state students and the greater revenue they bring, even after merit funding. To the extent that this use of merit aid works to deny access to merit-worthy, low-income applicants in-state, we do agree with the New America Foundation.

(Please note that separate posts discuss National Merit Scholarship aid, by institution. This post address the availability of all types of merit aid.)

In any event, the list below should be helpful to some parents with FAFSA income levels that are relatively high but that may still be stretched to the limit without non-need-based aid. We are not listing all the public universities on the list, but most of the larger ones are listed. After the university name, we will list the percentage of freshmen receiving non-need-based aid, followed by the average dollar amount of that aid per student. Most of the data is from 2013-2014. Schools where at least 20%  of freshmen receive at least $4,000 in average merit aid are listed in bold.

Public universities below with the highest average per capita merit aid are UT Dallas ($13,766); Alabama ($11,919); Colorado ($9,497); Vermont ($9,283); Arizona ($8,137);  Alabama Birmingham ($8,020); and New Hampshire ($8,020). Please note that some schools may sponsor very high numbers of National Merit Scholars (e.g., Oklahoma), but not provide as much merit aid in other forms. Still other schools (Alabama) fund both NMS aid and other merit aid at generous levels. And then there are the public elites that fund little or no aid that is not need-based.

 

North Dakota–41.73% of freshmen–$1,173 per student

Truman State–40.5% of freshmen–$4,693 per student

South Carolina–39.1% of freshmen–$5,253 per student

Vermont–33.3% of freshmen–$9,283 per student

Iowa State–32.6% of freshmen–$3,049 per student

Miami Ohio–31.3% of freshmen–$8,174 per student

West Virginia–30.7% of freshmen–$2,604 per student

Ohio State–29.9% of freshmen–$6,757 per student

UT Dallas–29.8% of freshmen–$13,766 per student

Auburn–29.6% of freshmen–$5,976 per student

Montana–29.3% of freshmen–$3,250 per student

SUNY Plattsburgh–28.9% of freshmen–$6,237 per student

Clemson–27.4% of freshmen–$7,456 per student

Alabama Huntsville–27.1% of freshmen–$7,494 per student

Oklahoma State–27% of freshmen–$6,291 per student

Colorado–26.9% of freshmen–$9,497 per student

Michigan Tech–26.7% of freshmen–$5,367 per student

Troy Univ–26.5% of freshmen–$5,132 per student

Arizona State–25.7% of freshmen–$7,733 per student

Col School of Mines–25.6% of freshmen–$7,391 per student

Mississippi–25.6% of freshmen–$6,876 per student

Alabama Birmingham–24.7% of freshmen–$8,020 per student

Delaware–24.6% of freshmen–$6,074 per student

Salibury–24.5% of freshmen–$2,127 per student

South Dakota–24.5% of freshmen–$4,505 per student

Southern Utah–24.5% of freshmen–$3,863 per student

Alabama–24.4% of freshmen–$11,919 per student

Arizona–24% of freshmen–$8,137 per student

Kansas State–24% of freshmen–$4,145 per student

Mississippi State–24% of freshmen–$3,527 per student

Iowa–23% of freshmen–$4,115 per student

Oklahoma–22.7% of freshmen–$4,540 per student

Kentucky–22% of freshmen–$7,789 per student

Missouri–21.1% of freshmen–$4,763 per student

Idaho–21.1% of freshmen–$3,133 per student

Maryland–19.9% of freshmen–$6,451 per student

Michigan–17.9% of freshmen–$4,938 per student

Indiana–17.6% of freshmen–$7,671 per student

Minnesota –17.4% of freshmen–$5,875 per student

Kansas–17.4% of freshmen–$3,235 per student

Arkansas-16.3% of freshmen–$4,145 per student

LSU–15.2% of freshmen–$3,233 per student

Alaska Fairbanks–15% of freshmen–$4,306 per student

Tennessee–13.8% of freshmen–$1,571 per student

New Hampshire–13% of freshmen–$8,020 per student

UC Berkeley–13% of freshmen–$4,583 per student

Maine–12.8% of freshmen–$4,030 per student

Connecticut–12.8% of freshmen–$7,045 per student

Rutgers–12.1% of freshmen–$4,300 per student

Massachusetts–11.8% of freshmen–$4,386 per student

Nebraska–11.6% of freshmen–$5,589 per student

Illinois–10.9% of freshmen–$3,980 per student

Rhode Island–9% of freshmen–$6,354 per student

Penn State–7.8% of freshmen–$3,230 per student

Utah–7.7% of freshmen–$7,917 per student

Wisconsin–7% of freshmen–$3,989 per student

Georgia–6.9% of freshmen–$2,019 per student

Florida–5.4% of freshmen–$2,000 per student

Oregon–5.3% of freshmen–$5,207 per student

North Carolina–3.2% of freshmen–$8,393 per student

Univ at Buffalo SUNY–2.6% of freshmen–$6,030 per student

Virginia–2.5% of freshmen–$5,821 per student

Washington–2% of freshmen–$7,000 per student

UT Austin–1% of freshmen–$5,586 per student