Questioning merit-based scholarships at nonprofit private universities: Lessons from Turkey

By employing multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), this study reveals the similarities between students’ socioeconomic status at five nonprofit private universities in Turkey. This research analyzes qualitative characteristics such as students’ fathers’ occupations, high school types, programs of study, and tuition fee paying status. The results demonstrate that children from relatively low-income families do not sufficiently benefit from the merit-based scholarship programs at nonprofit private universities. To ensure equality of opportunity in higher education, the researchers advocate for redesigning merit-based scholarship programs, which holds key implications not just for Turkey, but also for other higher education systems that rely on merit-based financial aid. •The merit-based scholarship system in Turkey has serious limitations.•Low-income students do not sufficiently benefit from the merit-based scholarships.•To ensure equality of opportunity, need-based scholarships should be readily available.