Most colleges use an unweighted GPA in order to determine scholarship eligibility. The problem is, different states (and sometimes even different high schools) can use different scales! 

Don't worry though, you can still use our calculator. To calculate unweighted GPA, find your average number grade (from 0 to 100) of all your grades and then use a chart like this one (https://pages.collegeboard.org/how-to-convert-gpa-4.0-scale) to convert to an unweighted GPA.

While many schools have gone test optional (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) many of those same schools are still asking for SAT or ACT scores in order to compare students for scholarships!

If you are not planning on submitting an ACT/SAT score with your college application, but still want to see how much merit aid you are eligible for, we suggest you first put a 1250 for the SAT or a 24 for the ACT to generate your list of schools and scholarships. You will then also see which scholarships don't require a test score.

The Merit Aid Calculator will:
1) Show you how much more merit aid you can earn just by slightly boosting your GPA and SAT/ACT score.
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2) Show you that the sticker price of college tuition is rarely what you actually end up paying because there is a ton of merit aid up for grabs.
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3) Help you identify colleges that you may not have previously considered, but where you might be able to significantly decrease the cost of attending based on your merit aid eligibility.

One of our team members at Everydae! We're always striving to provide students and their families with free, or low-cost ways to prepare themselves for college.
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When we were doing research we discovered that it's really hard to find a comprehensive list of Merit Aid across state schools, customized to a student's current GPA and test scores. So the tool was built!

When you use this tool you enter your state of residence. Your report will only show you the individual scholarships you are eligible for based on your state of residence (and how much of your tuition it will cover). For example, if you live in Texas, you may be eligible for the Century Scholars Program at Texas A&M, which is worth $5,000 (15% of in-state tuition). Or the Presidential Scholarship at the University of Oregon, which is worth $9,000 (16% of out-of-state tuition).

It depends. Some colleges guarantee a certain amount of merit aid. For others, you are eligible, but are simply in-the-running for the aid. Improving your SAT and GPA is the best way to improve your chances! To tell if you are guaranteed money, you should look at the school’s scholarships and aid webpage.

There are two key ways:
1) The sooner you submit your application for a given college, the more likely you are to get additional aid. 
2) Improve your GPA and SAT score - you can do this in just 10 minutes a day with Everydae!

It depends. For most schools there is no merit aid application required (after you submit your application the school will determine whether you will be awarded any aid). However, you do need to make sure you fill out the FAFSA when you submit your college applications.

They’re school-specific. So simply visit the website of the college you’re considering, and search for “undergraduate merit scholarships.”

It depends on the scholarship and the school. So definitely check with each college or university that you’re applying to just to be safe.

We are always adding new schools to the list! If you don’t see a school you’re interested in, it could either be because a) you don’t meet the GPA/SAT/ACT criteria or b) we haven’t added it. If you’d like information about a particular school, please message us! 

Yes, it’s only for public colleges for now. This is because many private schools only offer needs-based scholarships and we are focused on merit aid.