{"id":1026,"date":"2022-11-02T15:53:24","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T20:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/?p=1026"},"modified":"2022-11-03T15:18:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T20:18:19","slug":"cap-report-card-merit-scholarship-transparency-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegeaidpro.com\/cap-report-card-merit-scholarship-transparency-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"CAP Report Card – Merit Scholarship Transparency Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0The Importance of Transparency<\/h2>\n

College Aid Pro\u2019s (CAP) Mission is to End the Student Debt Crisis by empowering families to shop smarter for college. This is an audacious and ambitious goal, yet one we believe is achievable.<\/p>\n

CAP is a strong and growing community of college planning experts, school counselors, administrators, concerned parents, and college graduates who have the experience and passion to embark on this crusade. We acknowledge, however, that to ultimately achieve our goal we will need participation and support from the major institutions that have perpetuated the problem in the first place: the federal government and the industry of higher education.<\/p>\n

While the federal government can and should make needed changes to public policy to better support college-bound students (hint: it is NOT debt forgiveness)<\/a>, this white paper is directed at the colleges and universities themselves who have avoided true accountability for their role in the Student Debt Crisis.<\/p>\n

Our core belief at CAP is that students and families can make smart, fiscally sound college selection decisions if they are appropriately educated and armed with the relevant information they need. Regretfully, college consumers are far from being provided with simple and straightforward cost- benefit propositions. Instead, they are forced to fight through an unnecessary maze of confusing paperwork, urgent deadlines, and opaque fee structures, which too often leads to irresponsible borrowing and regrettable outcomes.<\/p>\n

To better balance the scales for families of college-bound students, we created College Aid Pro to fill this critical knowledge gap<\/a>. Our platform is built on the fundamental pillars of 1) comprehensive process education, 2) customized data-driven insights, and 3) tailored and timely guidance. While our platform and team provide a meaningful competitive advantage to our users, consumers of higher education will always be at a material disadvantage as long as colleges and universities play games with tuition amounts and hide financial aid methodologies in a black box. It is with this goal of increasing transparency and clarity that we are publishing this first edition of our Merit Scholarship Transparency Report Card.<\/p>\n

The Merit Scholarship Transparency Report Card gives credit to the schools that do not \u201chide the ball\u201d and are straightforward with their potential applicants, allowing them to make well-informed decisions. At the same time, we are shining a light on the many schools that are less forthcoming with the aid they award and the criteria they use to decide who they think is deserving.<\/p>\n

More than anything else, we want this white paper (and the others like it) to provide much-needed clarity for families and to push the dialogue with all colleges and universities forward so that the value and ROI of a college degree will simply speak for itself, rather than be buried behind a jungle of misdirection and misinformation. We look forward to the discussion.<\/p>\n

Click here to download the full list of Merit Scholarship Transparency Rankings.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin Degnan
\nCEO, College Aid PRO<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Have you ever wondered if you can afford college and how much you are able to pay? You are not alone. According to a survey conducted by Discover Student Loans, 66% of parents with kids 16-18 years old who are planning to go to college are worried about paying for their child\u2019s education. Simply put, most American families do not know what they can afford for their children\u2019s college education. What should be a straightforward question is complicated by enormous amounts of information about how to pay for college and a lack of clarity and accuracy from colleges on how they distribute financial aid.<\/p>\n

As a company whose Mission is to End the Student Debt Crisis, College Aid Pro helps families shop smarter for higher education by teaching them how college financial aid works, providing them customized planning tools, and enlightening them on all resources and opportunities available so they clearly understand their options and feel confident about what they can afford.<\/p>\n

This is the first white paper in a series dedicated to demystifying college financial aid. It focuses on types of financial aid available, how transparent colleges are about institutional scholarships, and tools to estimate how much you will need to pay for college. We also explain College Aid Pro\u2019s data collection process and introduce the grading system we created to rate merit scholarship transparency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Summary Statistics<\/h2>\n
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For this initial report, we graded 643 of the leading colleges and universities across the country. We chose these schools based on factors such as quality of education, popularity amongst applicants, and general reputation.<\/p>\n

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Types of Financial Aid<\/h2>\n

College financial aid falls into two categories: merit and need. While this paper focuses on merit aid, commonly known as scholarships, we will briefly touch on both categories so you may understand the difference.<\/p>\n

Merit aid, or scholarships<\/a>, come from private businesses, non-profit organizations, colleges, and universities in the form of \u201cfree\u201d or \u201cgift\u201d money that does not have to be repaid. Colleges offer merit aid to students based on academic performance, extracurricular activities, and other achievements by the student. High school GPA, class rank, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, recommendation letters, and essays are some of the factors used in determining merit scholarship eligibility and award amounts.<\/p>\n

Need-based aid, on the other hand, is granted solely on the basis of the student\u2019s or family\u2019s financial profile. A candidate\u2019s financial need eligibility is determined by a family\u2019s Expected Family Contribution (EFC)<\/strong>: a federally calculated number using information such as a family\u2019s income, assets, and size.<\/p>\n

Learn more about EFCS here<\/strong> – Understanding the Expected Family Contribution in FAFSA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Need-based aid comes in different forms from different sources:<\/p>\n