College merit aid produces bidding wars

Daniel de Vise:

Gillian Spolarich's college search played out like a romantic triangle. She was set on American University. But the College of Charleston was set on her. The Southern suitor sweetened its admission offer with a pledge of more than $10,000 in merit aid.

In the end, the high school senior from Silver Spring took the better offer from the second-choice school in South Carolina, placing price before prestige.

It is becoming a common scenario post-recession: Affluent applicants, shocked by college sticker prices and leery of debt, are choosing a school not because it is the first choice but because it is the best deal. Students are using their academic credentials to leverage generous merit awards from second- or third-choice schools looking to boost their own academic profiles. Colleges are responding with record sums of merit aid, transforming the admissions process into a polite bidding war.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 1, 2011 1:19 AM
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