financial aid/scholarships at D3's

My daughter (non-athlete) is a HS senior and just went through the process of applying to colleges.  She got several merit scholarships, one equal to 50% of the total cost of attendance.  In each case, the awards came from her "safety" schools and her grades/scores were well above the school profile and were not need-based.  She got $0 merit awards at schools where her grades/scores matched the school profile, and of course $0 for her "stretch" schools.  I don't know if athletes are treated differently, but everything I recall reading on this site suggests that athletes can't be treated differently in this regard than non-athletes.  So…I'm curious as to what those with experience have to say about this.

My son's experience is that baseball can help a player get into a school which the player might not ordinarily get into on grades alone.  But, there will be no merit aid.  (However, financial aid is a different story.  Many elite LAC say they will meet 100% "demonstrated need" - whatever that is.)  But grades can get players merit aid.  For schools where my son fell within the top 25% (test scores and gpa), he received very nice merit packages.  One coach told my son, "The higher your scores, the more I can do for you."  I wasn't there so I don't know what he meant.  But my son thought it meant help with admissions and scholarships.  

smokeminside,

The key is where your son stacks up academically against the rest of the incoming student body for merit aid.  Everything I've seen and read is that the top 25% (as ELC62 mentioned) get the bulk of the money and the early bird gets the worm.  Keep in mind economics play a big part in this supply/demand situation.  Schools want to attract top students to boost their published numbers.  Top elite schools with high demand and low supply (select students) can charge what they want and offer as little or much as they want in merit scholarships.  Typically the very high academic schools are need based financial aid with very little to offer for merit aid (everybody is pretty smart) but they are very generous with institutional aid for people who need it.   

Being an athlete can help a few every year with admissions but not so much in D3 merit scholarship awards.  So, as you are talking to these schools find out how financial aid is awarded and if & how the school awards it top 25%.  I would always reference the financial aid tab in College Navigator (http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/) and the schools Financial Aid policies on their website.

Good luck!!