Pricing
The calculator is free, and stays free. The System is one flat $397 — the workflow that turns a list of published awards into a finalized, affordable college list with every deadline caught. No subscriptions, no per-college fees, no upsell ladder.
What the System does for your family
1. A shortlist you can defend
The Merit College List Builder saves the colleges from your calculator results and ranks them two ways: by guaranteed 4-year value, and — where a college publishes its cost of attendance — by lowest estimated remaining cost, filtered by the budget your family sets. Every number on the list traces back to a published grid.
2. Retest decisions in dollars, not guesses
The Test-Score ROI tool shows, per college, the exact SAT or ACT points to the next published tier and what those points are worth per year and over four years — so test-prep money goes only where a published grid pays it back.
3. No award lost to a date or a GPA
The Deadline & Renewal Tracker puts every saved college's published application deadline, score deadline, renewal GPA, and full-time requirement in one view. Missed deadlines and renewal terms are the two most common ways families lose merit money after winning it — this exists so neither happens quietly.
4. A second ask, done right
The appeal playbook and templates cover when colleges actually reconsider a first offer, what evidence they respond to, and fill-in letters that stay factual — plus the external-scholarships guide, including the stacking rules that can quietly change what an award is worth.
Built on the same verified dataset as the calculator: 304 colleges and 1475 published awards, every figure with its official source and verification date — the rules are on the methodology page.
The two options
Free — the calculator & reference
$0. The merit calculator, every college and state page, the methodology, and the guides. Every figure sourced and dated. No account needed.
The MeritChart System — $397
One flat payment of $397 for the four working tools above — list builder, test-score ROI, deadline & renewal tracker, appeal playbook with templates — built for one student's search. Not a subscription.
Why not stop at the free calculator?
The calculator answers one question well: what is published for my student's stats today? A college search runs a full season. Lists change as scores come in, scholarship deadlines pass months before admission decisions, and renewal GPAs decide in year two whether year one's award survives. The System is the difference between finding the money once and keeping it for four years.
Future cohort
An application-season cohort is planned for a future season at $1,500–$2,500. It is labelled here as a planned range only — the cohort is not open, has no dates yet, and nothing on this page claims staff credentials or financial-aid professionals. Join the list below and we will announce it if and when it opens.
Get the System
Checkout is live and runs on Stripe. One payment of $397; your private access link is emailed to you right after — no account, no password, nothing else to install.
Get the MeritChart System — $397
One flat payment of $397, charged on Stripe. Right after checkout, your private access link is emailed to you — no account, no password, nothing to install. Enter the email that should receive it: