Just because your child is a good student doesn't mean her good grades will translate into college aid. This kind of financial aid is called academic merit aid, and few colleges offer it based just on grades and test scores alone. I cannot tell you how many times after a presentation to families I've heard parents saying that their child should be able to get a "full-ride" at this college or that university.
No, they probably will not get a full-ride based on grades, and they may not get ANY aid based on grades at a lot of colleges, especially state universities. That's because the majority of state universities and the most selective colleges out there, including the Ivy League schools, the Wesleyans, Bates, Dukes, Swarthmores and Stanfords of the college admissions elite, do not offer academic merit aid; where if you have the grade, you get the aid. It just doesn't work that way at most schools anymore.
Yes, many smaller, perhaps less-known private colleges still offer academic merit aid of substantial value. I mean more than $5,000 per year, up to a full-ride. That's because they have to in order to be competitive. The good news is that with the advent of the government rule over colleges being required to provide a net price calculator on their websites, it is easier than ever to identify if a student is eligible for academic merit aid by just typing in the student's GPA and ACT or SAT score. In fact, that's exactly what kids do. They'll hit a school's net price calculator (NPC), go through the first step of the net price calculator to see if they are "estimated" to receive any merit aid money, and if not, most bail out, abandon the calculator and move on. Of course, even if the NPC does show that a student is "eligible" for academic merit aid, it does not mean he or she will receive it for sure. Many merit awards are competitive. A student may be eligible to compete for an award, often at an on-campus weekend before college starts, or via a committee review of the eligible applicants. Still, there are "merit" awards that are for specific majors, usually limited to a number of students, and have wider criteria than just GPA and test scores. So a school that offers no academic merit aid may still have scholarships available in niche areas, and you should ask about such possibilities.
The big point I am trying to make here is that just because a student has great grades and test scores, it doesn't mean those "merits" will translate into college financial aid, because not all colleges offer academic merit aid, of those that do, it may be a competitive award, or related to a specific major or limited to only four students out of all that are eligible. In addition, some state universities that do offer small academic awards are often available to students who are state residents, or on a reduced basis for out-of-state students.
Here is another thing to know. Most academic awards are awarded by the admissions office of a college, not the financial aid office. Most often, the admissions department will automatically notify a student if they are eligible for a merit award when they submit their application for admission, because again, these awards are based on the things admissions professionals look at most: grade point average and standardized test scores (ACT and/or SAT). For those of you who have kids who are taking AP courses and have a GPA that is considered "weighted" to reflect these advanced courses, you should be asking yourself if colleges recalculate GPA for academic merit aid purposes.
Why? Because let's say the kid took the advanced courses and comes in with a GPA of 3.71 versus possibly having gotten a GPA of 3.75 or better taking slightly easier courses. Since a lot of merit aid awards are based on GPA, and typically the criteria is 3.75 or higher, the potential exists for the kid with the 3.71 to NOT have the grade, and NOT get the aid. The good news is that most admissions offices do recalculate GPA based on academic rigor, so the kid that challenges herself doesn't miss out on merit aid. I'll explain how colleges recalculate GPA based on rigor another time, but recalculation is good for merit aid because the right kids are duly rewarded.
The other type of financial aid is need-based aid, the kind that a student demonstrates a "need" for based on the family's financial aid information as submitted to a college's financial aid office on the two financial aid forms, the FAFSA and CSS Profile. I've written extensively about everything you need to know about this kind of aid, just read my 2013 Guide To FAFSA, CSS Profile, Expected Family Contribution (EFC) And College Aid.
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