College-Specific Grants & Scholarships

FAFSA | CSS Profile | 100% Meet-Need Colleges | Merit-Based Institutional Scholarships

While scholarships can help subsidize the cost of attending college, the best long-term solution to affording college is knowing the right colleges to apply to — knowing which colleges can offer the best need-based financial aid and which colleges have the most generous merit-based scholarship opportunities. Use the resources below to make sure your college list includes some of these colleges and to make sure you are completing all of the necessary forms to be eligible for institutional grants and scholarships.

FAFSA

In addition to evaluating your eligibility for federal financial aid, the FAFSA is required by all colleges in order to be eligible for their need-based grants (if you are a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen). See the Federal & State Grants page for more information about completing the FAFSA and what your options are if you are not eligible.

CSS Profile

The CSS Profile is an additional financial aid application that these colleges require in order to gather more detailed financial aid information about your family's financial situation and assets. The colleges that require the CSS Profile are typically those colleges that have very generous financial aid funds, so they use the CSS Profile (in addition to the FAFSA) to make sure each student is getting what they need to make their college affordable.

All students should complete the CSS Profile if it's required by these colleges (whether or not you are a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen). Go to the CSS Profile page of the CAC website for more information about how to get started!

100% Meet-Need Colleges

The colleges that are able to offer the most financial aid to help offset costs based on income are colleges that meet 100% of financial need. These are the colleges that understand that they have a role to play in supporting students financially, so they commit to offering everyone enough financial aid to cover what you can't pay based on financial aid calculations (from the FAFSA and CSS Profile).

You can view all of the Colleges that meet 100% of financial need here! Also take note of which colleges don't require students to take out loans in their financial aid package.

The Affordable Target Colleges page on the CAC website also has a comprehensive list of colleges that offer solid financial aid, meeting 88% of financial need or higher!

Merit-Based Institutional Scholarships

Many colleges automatically consider students for their institutional merit scholarships, but some have separate application processes, especially for large, full-ride merit scholarships, like the University of Richmond in Virginia or Centre College in Kentucky.

See here for a List of Full-Ride Merit Scholarship Opportunities! (Note that many of these require you to submit an application before December 1st for consideration.) For a full list of their merit scholarships, also check your colleges' financial aid websites.

Many college's Honors Colleges and Programs offer honors-only scholarships for students who qualify for or apply for those opportunities.

APPLY EARLY FOR THESE SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES!

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