KRT Wire | 02/23/2005 | States, colleges increasing merit-based financial aid: "o be sure, most of the more than $75 billion in annual aid for higher education remains need-based. But the growth is in merit aid. States now spend a quarter of their scholarship money on merit awards, up from 10 percent a decade ago, according to financial aid organizations. Merit aid's share of private college scholarships is 36 percent, compared with 27 percent in the early '90s."