It has driven any number of movies and TV episodes -- the cutthroat competition for a scholarship, under the control of a fearsome organization or perhaps a mysterious, hard-to-impress benefactor. I think it's this trope that leads many families to think that the primary source of financial help for college doesn't come from the colleges themselves. So a search begins for essay contests, foundation grants, state-sponsored scholarships, beauty pageants.
But "outside" scholarships from Elks Clubs and the like can end up with a student working too hard for too little. If you're not expecting an athletic scholarship, the help you're looking for -- that is, a scholarship in the four to five-figure range -- will most likely come from the colleges where you've been accepted. We're talking college grants, aka institutional aid. Grants can be based solely on the financial need of the applicant (determined by your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) filing, and a CSS Profile where requested.) And then there's "merit aid," grants which go beyond need -- and can be offered to students who are determined to have little to no financial need. What's it all about?
The term "crafting a class," bandied about in the admissions world, originated in a book by the same name. Colleges that approach admissions holistically (that is, looking at all aspects of an application -- GPA, essay, test scores, extracurriculars, perhaps an interview) are aiming to 'craft a class' -- acceptances are based in part by an admission committee's belief that a student will thrive their at their college and that student will benefit the college community at large. An institution can use merit aid to entice the oboe player they need in their orchestra. Or to lure that very capable student away from their strong in-state university. A college's offer of merit aid could match or dip under an in-state university's price tag.
How do you find out about merit aid once you're accepted? A student who has filed a FAFSA will receive a financial aid letter from the institution(s) to which they have accepted, detailing offers of grants and federal loans. An award of merit aid can also appear in a separate letter, with an explanation of its terms. All awards are up to the discretion of the college in question and there's no additional work to be done on an application to be considered for one or more [1]
The New York Times defines a typical merit aid candidate this way: "It’s the fate of being in the middle: a good student but not Ivy caliber, strapped by college costs but not eligible for enough need-based aid." If that's pretty relatable, rest assured there are "colleges and universities that award aid based on academic promise". Not all colleges and universities offer merit aid, but those that do make that clear on their websites.
First, it helps to determine what colleges might think of your family's financial resources. Thanks to an initiative by the Obama Administration in 2011, a "Net Price Calculator" appears on the website of virtually every accredited college and university (community colleges, too). The calculator will give you an "expected family contribution" (EFC) number in dollars that's a little more precise than a ballpark figure. What a student/family will actually have to contribute can change mightily (for the better) if you're holding an acceptance letter from a college that offers merit aid.
[1] Some colleges do have special institutional scholarships that require the submission of an essay or a portfolio, such as the Ursinus College Creative Writing Award or the Dove Scholarship at Hobart.