Although nearly all colleges and universities say they admit applicants regardless of their ability to pay, less than a third can meet students’ full financial need, according to a new report based on a survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

Thirty-two percent of public institutions said they meet full need, while 18 percent of private colleges said they did so.

The report by the association, known as Nacac, provides a snapshot of merit aid’s prevalence in higher education. It affirms that colleges are devoting more of their resources to merit aid than in the past. In 1994, Nacac found that 27 percent of all institutional aid funds went to merit aid and 66 percent went to need-based aid. According to the new report, colleges and universities now devote 43 percent of their institutional aid funds to merit aid and 49 percent to need-based aid.

The report was based on a 2007 survey by Nacac, and was written by Donald E. Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University. —Eric Hoover