Merit-based - financial aid for which
financial need is not used to determine the
recipient. The recipient may be determined by
students’ athletic, academic, artistic or other
abilities. The actual monetary value of the
scholarship may be negligible, the scholarship
being meant to motivate the student and promote
the study of the subject. However, this is not
always the case and the largest scholarships are
almost always merit-based.
Need-based - financial aid for which the
student and family’s financial situation is a
primary factor in determining the recipient.
Usually such scholarship will cover all or part of
the tuition and may even cover living-costs. Very
often even need-based private scholarships require
the awardees to be distinguished students, as the
deed founding the award may include a phrase like:
“for the studies of founder's favourite
subject in founder's favourite institution
of higher education for a talented youths of
limited means from founder's home
town/county/state etc.“
Ethnicity-based - financial aid where
applicants must initially qualify by race,
religion, or national origin. After filtering the
applicants based on their ethnicity, additional
factors are taken into consideration to determine
the final recipients.
